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FOR THE USE OF SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHERS, BIBLE CLASSES, 
AXD BIBLE READERS GENERA LL Y. 



Bible Word-Book: 



% (glostfarg of j&crtpture (fterm* 

WHICH HAVE CHANGED THEIR POPULAR MEANING, OR 
ARE NO LONGER IN GENERAL USE. 



BY 

WILLIAM SWINTON, 

AUTHOR OF "HARPER'S LANGUAGE SERIES," "WORD-BOOK," 
"WORD-ANALYSIS," ETC. 



EDITED BY 

Prof. T. J. CONANT, D. D. 



< MQ .J 5.1 

NEW YORK : 
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS. 
1876. 



By PROFESSOR SWINTON. 



LANGUAGE PRIMER. 102 pp., 40 cents. 
LANGUAGE LESSONS. 176 pp., 50 cents. 
SCHOOL COMPOSITION. 151 pp., 50 cents. 
PROGRESSIVE ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 207 pp., 75 cents. 



Entered according- to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, 
BY HARPER AND BROTHERS, 
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



PREFACE. 



The aim of this little manual is strictly practical. 
Though designed for the use of Bible-readers gen- 
erally, it is specifically intended for Sunday schools 
and Bible-classes. The hope of the author is that 
it may be introduced as a regular study in Sunday 
schools and Bible-classes. The entire vocabulary of 
peculiar and obsolete terms, here given, does not much 
exceed three hundred words ; so that a weekly lesson 
of six words would in a year carry the scholar through 
the whole list. This would give a definite and specific 
aim to Sabbath instruction; and the knowledge thus 
acquired could hardly fail to bear fruit both in the 
spiritual and the intellectual advancement of the stu- 
dent. 

In the idea of this book there is nothing original. 
There have been several learned and elaborate works 
on the vocabulary of the Scriptures ; and the merit, 
if any, of the present little hand-book is rather in the 
absence of learning and elaborateness, — that is to 
say, in such a treatment of the subject as shall bring 
the matter down to the comprehension of plain read- 



PREFACE. 



ers who do not possess any special philological train- 
ing, and as shall adapt it to the conditions of Bible- 
class recitation. 

The general plan is, in the case of words that are 
obsolete, to give their significance ; and in the case 
of the larger list of terms that have undergone trans- 
formations of meaning, to state the Bible sense of the 
word, and then to bring it into comparison with its 
modern definition. The Scripture significance of im- 
portant words is further illustrated by the citation of 
passages from authors who wrote contemporaneously, 
or nearly so, with the publication of our translation. 
It may also be noticed that in each case the word is 
introduced either by the textual quotation of a Bible- 
passage in which the given word is found, or else by 
a reference ; and in many instances additional refer- 
ences are given. It is recommended that students 
be encouraged to bring together all the passages in 
which the word is used, noting the meaning in each 
case. 

The author has to express his obligations to the 
following works : Trench's Glossary, the Bible Word- 
Book of Eastwood and Wright, and Nares's Glossary, 
which have been freely drawn on. 

W. S. 



NOTE BY DR. CONANT. 



At the request of my friend, Professor Swin- 
ton, I have looked over the manuscript of the 
following manual for Sunday schools, making 
such occasional suggestions as might further the 
author's design. Its value to Sunday-school 
teachers and pupils will be evident on the in- 
spection of a few pages. 

During the two and a half centuries since the 
first publication of the English version of the 
Scriptures in 1611 many words have gone nearly 
or quite out of use, and others have come to be 
used in a different sense from that intended by 
the translators. Both classes of words require 
explanation ; and, in most cases, their meaning 
is best illustrated and most clearly apprehended 
by quotations from old English writers, where 
they are used in the same sense as in our version 
of the Scriptures. 



Vi NOTE BY DR. CONANT. 



The study of the Bible-texts referred to under 
the words given, and of other texts containing 
them, which may be found by the aid of a con- 
cordance, would be a useful and interesting 
exercise for Sunday-school classes, throwing 
unexpected light on many passages of Holy 
Scripture. 

I heartily commend this little manual to Sun- 
day-school teachers and their classes, and to 
others who have not access to more expensive 
works largely devoted to literary discussions 
which have no direct' bearing on the illustration 
of Scripture. 

T. J. C. 



A. 

A. An. 

A, an. The use of a or an before a word beginning with 
vocal h was not uniform at the date (161 1) of our authorized 
version; and the far greater frequency of the latter form 
indicates a feebler sound of the h than we now give it. 
Thus we find in Ex. xxv, 10, a half, but in Dan. xii, 7, an 
half ; in Gen. xxvii, 11, a hairy man, but in 2 Kings i, 8, an 
hairy man ; in 2 Kings xii, 9, a hole, but in Ex. xxviii, 
32, a« hole ; in I Chron. xxv, 3, a harp, but in 1 Sam. 
xvi, 16, 0# harp; in Jer. xxiii, 29, a hammer, but in 
Judges iv, 21, hammer. 

(abbreviated, ^) seems to have been nearly 
related to on. Hence we find in Acts vii, 60 
fell sleep, and in Acts xiii, 36 fell on sleep ; and 
in Ex. xix, 18 it is said, "Mount Sinai was alto- 
gether on a smoke," — properly, all Mount Sinai 
smoked. 

"To set the people a work" (2 Chron. ii, 18) 
means to set them to work, to keep them at work, 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 



Abide. Abject. 

and " a work " should be written with a hyphen 
(a-work). 

Skill in the weapon is nothing without sack; for that 
sets it #-work. Shakspeare.. 

Abide. Bonds and afflictions abide me. — Acts xx, 23. 
Here the word means, as in old English, to 
await. 

Abide me, if thou darest. Shakspeare. 

By an easy transition it takes the sense, to 

bear, to endure. " Everything that may abide the 

fire " {Numb, xxxi, 23) ; " the day of the Lord is 

great and very terrible, and who can abide it ? " 

(Joe/ii, 11.) 

What fates impose, that men must needs abide. 

Shakspeare. 

Abject, noun. The abjects gathered themselves to- 
gether against me. — Psahn xxxv, 15. 

The noun abject means a worthless, despicable 
person. It is obsolete as a noun, though we still 
retain the adjective "abject." Both noun and 
adjective are derived from the Latin " abjectus," 
cast aside. As a noun, abject was in common use 
in the seventeenth century. 

We are the queen's abjects ) and must obey. 

Shakspeare. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 9 

Abroad. Adamant. 

Abroad. And he had thirty sons and thirty daughters, 
whom he sent abj'oad. — fudges xii, 9. See also I Kings 
ii, 42. 

In modern usage, abroad frequently means out 
of the country; but in early English literature it 
denotes merely away from home, or out-of-doors. 

When any did send him rare fruits or fish from the coun- 
tries near the seaside, he would send them abroad unto his 
friends. North's Plutarch. 

Hence, to come abroad {Mark iv, 22 ; Rom. xvi, 
19) means to become publicly known; as we 
now say, to get abroad. 

Accept. Peradventure he will accept of me. — Gen. 
xxxii, 20. 

To accept of meant to receive with approval 
and favor, as acceptable. 

Shall we not think that God above .... doth discern 
that frail men, in some of their contradictions, intend the 
same thing, and accepteth <?/"both. Bacon. 

Adamant. As an adamant harder than flint have I 
made thy forehead. — Ezek, hi, 9. See also Zech. vii, 12. 

This word has now taken the form of diamo?id. 
Adamant is, however, nearer the original Greek 
adamas, which means the unconquerable, in allu- 



10 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 



Admiration. Adventure. 

sion to the exceeding hardness of this stone. 
We still retain the adjective adamantine, meaning 
very hard. 

Admiration. And I saw the woman drunken with the 
blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of 
Jesus : and when I saw her I wondered with great admi- 
ration. — Rev. xvii, 6. 

The primitive meaning of admiration is won- 
der, as that of the verb to admire is to wonder. 
It did not carry with it the sense of approval, 
which our modern usage does. " Wondered with 
great admiration " is equivalent to wondered 
greatly, wondered with great wonder, which is 
the literal translation. 

The undaunted fiend what this might be admired; 
Admired, not feared. Milton, Paradise Lost. 

In this passage from Milton, as in that from 
Revelation, the meaning is that of simple won- 
der ; the fiend wondered, marvekd. 

Adventure. Which would not adventure to set the 
sole of her foot upon the ground. — Deut. xxviii, 56. 

As a verb, venture has taken its place in later 
usage. 

Yet I will adventure. Shakspeare. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. II 

Adversary,, Advise. 

Adversary. Agree with thine adversary quickly. — 
Matt, v, 25. See also Luke xii, 58. 

The modern meaning of adversary is an oppo- 
nent, an antagonist. But in the Biblical usage, as 
above, it has the specific meaning of an opponent 
in a lata suit. This use of the word was common 
in the literature of the seventeenth century. 
And do as adversaries do in law, 
Strike mightily, but eat and drink as friends. 

Shakspeare. 

Advertise. Come, therefore, and I will advertise thee 
what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days. 
— Numb, xxiv, 14. 

In this passage advertise thee means inform 
thee. In modern use, the scope of the word is 
narrowed to informing in a particular manner, 
namely, by publication. 

As I by friends am well advertised [that is, am well 
informed}. Shakspeare. 

Advise. Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall 
bring again to him that sent me. — 1 Chron. xxi, 12. 

To advise one's self means to reflect, to consider, 
and the passage is equivalent to bethink thee what 
word I shall bring again. 

Go, bid thy master well advise himself. Shakspeare. 



12 BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Advisement. Affinity. 

Advisement. The lords of the Philistines upon advise- 
ment sent him away. — I Chron, xii, 19. 

By advisement here is meant deliberation, con- 
sultation. 

Without advisement, without discretion. 

Barclay, Eclog. 

Affect. They zealously affect you, but not well. — Gal, 
iv, 17. 

The Bible meaning of affect is different from 
the modern sense, which is to put on. It signi- 
fies to strive after, to desire earnestly. 

And one of them said that to be a secretary in the decli- 
nation of a monarchy was a ticklish thing, and that he did 
not affect it. Bacon's Essays. 

Affinity. And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh, 
king of Egypt. — 1 Ki7igs hi, 1. 

In its modern sense, affinity means relation- 
ship, or agreement, as the affinity of sounds, of 
colors. But its early meaning was more limited. 
It denoted relationship by marriage^ as opposed 
to consanguinity, which denoted relationship by 
blood. 

The Moor replies 
That he you hurt is of great fame in Cyprus, 
And great affinity. Shakspeare. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 1 3 

Aforehand. After. 



Aforehand. She is come aforehand to anoint my body 
to the burying. — Mark xiv, 8. 

This is the early form of the word now written 
beforehand. 

The prophets, long aforehand, had prophesied of these 
works. Latimer's Sermons. 

Aforetime. Their children also shall be as aforetime. — 
Jer. xxx, 20. 

Aforetime meant formerly, in old times, of old. 

I would wish that patrons and bishops would see more 
diligently to it than has been done aforetime. 

Latimer's Sermons. 

After. Give them after the work of their hands. — 
Ps. xxviii, 4. 

After here means according to, as the Hebrew 
particle is twice translated in the same verse. 

And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living, crea- 
ture after his kind. — Gen. i, 24. And God said, Let us 
make man in our image, after our likeness. — Verse 26. 

After is here used to translate two different 
Hebrew particles ; the one in verses 24 and 25 
having a distributive force (each after its kind), 
the other, in verse 26, being the particle of com- 
parison (according to). 



14 BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Agone. All. 

Agone. My master left me, because three days agone I 
fell sick. — I Sam. xxx, 13. 

Agone, past and gone, old form of the past 
participle of the verb to go ; then as an adverb, 
past, for which ago is now used. 

It was long agone prophesied in the Psalm. 

Udal, Erasmus's Para£h}'ase. 

For long agone I have forgot to court. 

Shakspeare. 

Albeit. {Philemon 19.) This word is now almost ob- 
solete. It means although it be. 

Alien. I have been an alien in a strange land. — Ex. 
xviii, 3. Our houses [turned] to aliens. — Lam. v, 2. 
Aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. — Eph. ii, 12. 

Alien (from the Latin alienus) means, of an- 
other country, a foreigner; and in Eph. ii, 12 is 
contrasted with fellow-citizens in verse 19. 

If it be proved against an alien, 
That by direct or indirect attempt, 
He seek the life of any citizen. 

Shakspeare. 

All. Without all contradiction. — Heb. vii, 7. And 
with all lost thing of thy brother's, which he hath lost. — 
Dent, xxii, 3. 

All, with a negative, whether expressed, or only 
implied as in without, was a Hebrew and Greek 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 1 5 

Allege. All-to. 



idiom for any, and .was so used, in the same 
idiomatic conception, by old English writers. 

The trade of monkery, which was without all devotion 
and understanding. Latimer's Sermons. 

Allege. Alleging that Christ must needs have suffered. 
— Acts xvii, 3. 

Allege (from the Latin law term allegare) meant 
to set forth proofs, to prove by quotation, not 
simply to assert, as at present. 

Either allege the Scriptures aright, .... or else abstain 
out of the pulpit. Latimer's Remains. 

Allow. Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds 
of your fathers. — Luke xi, 48. 

Allow has here the sense of approving or prais- 
ing, — that ye approve the deeds of your fathers. 
In modern English it means merely to permit. 
However, allow has the meaning of praise in its 
original root (Latin allaudare, and that from 
" laus," praise. Compare our laud). 

The less he is worthy, the more art thou therefore allowed 
of God, and the more art thou commended of Christ. 

Homilies against Contention. 
All-to. And all to brake his skull. — Judges ix, 53. 
All-to (the word should be written with a hy- 



1 6 BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Alms. Alpha. 



phen) meant, in old English, altogether, wholly, 
or too much. [Properly, all-to brake.'] 

We be fallen into the dirt, and be all-to dirtied, even up 
to the ears. Latimer's Remains. 

Smiling speakers creep into a man's bosom ; they love 
and all-to love him. Latimer's Sermons. 

Alms. Who seeing Peter and John about to go into 
the temple asked an alms. — Acts hi, 3. 

The word alms is here used in the singular, 
and some have thought wrongly ; but though 
alms appears to be a plural, it is really singular. 
Alms is a contraction of the old English almesse, 
and this from the Greek noun eleemosyne, whence 
we have our adjective eleemosynary. 

Beggars that come unto my father's door, 
Upon entreaty have a present alms. 

Shakspeare. 

Almug-trees. And the navy also of Hiram, that 
brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great 
plenty of almug-trees. — I Kings x, II. 

From the almug-tree was derived the sandal- 
wood celebrated in the Scriptures. 

Alpha. The first letter of the Greek alphabet (a), as 
Omega (w) is the last. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 1 7 

Amazement. Amiable. 



Amazement. Amazement, in its older sense, meant 
confusion or bewilderment of mind, from whatever cause ; 
not, as now, simply astonishment. 

Ambassage. While the other is yet a great way off 
he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. 
— Luke xiv, 32. 

The word ambassage is now obsolete. The 
modern equivalent is embassy. 

Yonder men are too many for an ambassage , and too few 
for a fight. Bacon's Essays. 

Amerce. And they shall amerce him in an hundred 
shekels of silver. — Dent, xxii, 19. 

To impose a pecuniary penalty upon an of- 
fender. It is now only a legal term, but was in 
common use in the seventeenth century. 

Millions of spirits for his fault amerced of heaven. 

Milton. 

That is, punished by the loss of heaven, as a 
penalty. 

Amiable. How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord. — 
Psalm lxxxiv, 1. 

The adjective amiable is here applied to a 
things namely, tabernacles. It preserves its 
primitive sense of worthy to be loved, from the 



2 



1 8 BIBLE WORD-BOOK, 

Ancient. Answer, 

Latin amabilis, and that from " amare," to love. 
How amiable are thy tabernacles means how 
lovely are thy tabernacles. The word has now 
lost its applicability to things, and has come to 
denote a quality of persons only. 

If it be true that the principal part of treaty is in decent 
motion, certainly it is no marvel though persons in years 
seem many times more amiable. Bacon's Essays. 

Ancient, noun. The Lord will enter into judgment 
with the ancients of his people. — Isa. iii, 14. See also Jer. 
xix, I ; Ezek. vii, 26. 

An ancient means an elder; one older than 
ourselves. 

Forasmuch as our duty is to worship and adore the gods ? 
to honor our'parents, to reverence our ancients, etc. 

Holland^ Plutarch. 

Anon. And anon with joy receiveth it. — Matt, xiii, 
20. See also Mark i, 30. 

Immediately, at once. Anon is derived from 
an, meaning in, and one, - — that is, in one minute. 

Answer. And one of the elders answered, saying unto 
me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes ? — 
Rev. vii, 13. See also I Kings xiii, 6; Isa. Ixv, 24; Matt. 
xi, 25 ; Luke iii, 16. 

In our modern usage answer implies that a 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 1 9 

Apparently. Apprehend. 

question has been asked. In the Bible it is 
sometimes used when no question has been 
asked, but with reference to something that has 
immediately gone before and is the occasion of 
speaking. So in Acts v, 8, Peter is said to have 
answered Sapphira, with evident reference to her 
object in coming to reaffirm her husband's false- 
hood. 

Apparently. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, 
even appare 'fitly, and not in dark speeches. — Numb, xii, 8. 

In modern usage, apparently means seemingly, 
— that is, something that is in appearance; but 
in the seventeenth century it signified manifestly, 
clearly, openly. 

I would not spare my brother in this case, 

If he should scorn me so apparently [i. e. so openly]. 

Shakspeare. 

Apprehend. I follow after, if that I may apprehend 
that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. — 
Phil, iii, 12. 

Apprehend, from the Latin apprehendo, means, 
literally, to lay hold of, to take by the hand ; in 
which sense it is used above. The passage 
throughout has reference to the Grecian games ; 



20 BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Artillery. Astonied. 

apprehend, in the first part of the sentence, mean- 
ing to lay hold of the goal, and so to receive the 
prize ; in the second part, meaning to take hold 
of by the hand and introduce to the course, as 
was customary. 

There is nothing but hath a double handle, or at least 
we have two hands to apprehend it. 

Jeremy Taylor, Holy Living. 

Artillery. And Jonathan gave his artillery unto his 
lad, and said unto him, Go, carry them to the city. — 
I Sam. xx, 40. 

Artillery, in modern English, means cannon 
used in warfare ; but at the time our version of 
the Scriptures was made the term artillery was 
applied to any engines for projecting missiles ; 
even the bow and arrow were included under ar- 
tillery, and this is the signification of the word 
in the above passage. 

The Parthians, having all their hope in artillery [that is, 
bows and arrows], overcame the Romans oftener than the 
Romans them. Ascham, Toxophilus. 

Assuage. The waters assuaged [i. e. subsided]. — Gen. 
viii, 1. 

Astonied. Upright men shall be astonied at this. — 
Job xvii, 8. See also Jer. xiv, 9. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 21 
At one. Attent. 



This is an old form of the word that we now 
write astonished. 

At one, Atone, Atonement. And the next day he 
showed himself unto them as they strove, and would have 
set them at one again. — Acts vii, 26. 

To be at one is to be united, reconciled ; to set 
at one is to reconcile. 

The verb atone means to reconcile , to make one. 

Atonement is the great reconciliation, or, liter- 
ally, the at-one-ment of man and God. 

So became they both at 0716. Spenser. 
There is mirth in heaven 
When earthly things, made even, 
Atone together. Shakspeare. 

If we do now make our ato7te7ne7it well, 

Our peace will, like a broken limb united, 

Be stronger for the breaking. Shakspeare. 

Attent. Let thine ears be atte7it unto the prayer that 
is made in this place. — 2 Chron. vi, 40 ; vii, 15. 

The form now used is attentive, which form 
also occurs in our translation. 

Season your admiration [wonder] for a while 
With an attent ear. Shakspeare. 



2 2 BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Audience. Away with. 

Audience. And he spake unto Ephron in the audience 
of the people of the land, etc. — Gen. xxiii, 13, 

With us audience means a collection of hearers^ 
or auditors; but in the older use it denoted a 
hearing. (Latin audire, to hear.) 

Avengement. (2 Sam. xxii, 48. m. : Psalm xviii, 47, w.) 

This word has gone out of use, its place being 
taken by vengeance. 

Avoid. David avoided out of his presence twice. — 
1 Sam. xviii, 11. 

This means departed, from the literal significa- 
tion of avoids to make void or empty. 

Avouch. To avow, to solemnly declare or affirm. — 
Dent, xxvi, 17, iS. 

Await. Laying await [Ads ix, 24), for lying in wait. 

Away with, verb. The new moons and Sabbaths, the 
calling of assemblies, I cannot away with. — Isa. i, 13. 

This expression is entirely obsolete in its use 
as a verb. It means to endure, to suffer, to put 
up with. 

She never could away with me. 

Shakspeare. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 



Bakemeats. Base. 



B. 

Bakemeats. And in the uppermost basket there was 
of all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh. — Gen. xl, 17. 

The margin renders literally meat of Pharaoh, 
the work of a baker or cook* In Shakspeare the 
form baked meats occurs with a similar significa- 
tion. 

The funeral baked meats 

Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables. 

Barbarian. Therefore, if I know not the meaning of 
the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian. — 
1 Cor. xiv, 1 1 . 

The word here used in the original is in all 
other passages of the New Testament rendered 
by barbarian, and is in every instance used in 
its strictly classical sense of foreigner, — one who 
speaks a language other than Greek, without any 
idea of barbarism, in the modern sense, necessa- 
rily attaching to it. 

Base. And base things of the world, and things which 
are despised, hath God chosen. — 1 C#r. i, 2S. 

There has been a considerable degeneracy of 
meaning in the word base. In the Bible sense 



24 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 



Bdellium. Because. 

it meant simply low, humble (French " bas," low), 
not necessarily worthless or wicked. 

My lord, in the base court 

He doth attend to speak with you. 

Shakspeare. 

Bdellium. There is bdellium and the onyx-stone. — 
Gen. ii, 12. 

Bdellium is a white, transparent, oily gum, 
which flows from a tree about the bigness of the 
olive, and which grows in the East Indies and 
Arabia. 

Beast. Let the earth bring forth .... beast of the earth 
after his kind. — Gen. i, 24. 

Beast is frequently used collectively in the sin- 
gular number. In Rev. iv, vi, etc., and Dan. vii, 
the original words mean living creature of any 
kind, not beast in the modern sense. 

Because. And the multitude rebuked them, because 
they should hold their peace. — Mark xx, 31. 

This would now mean, because they ought to 
hold their peace. But the meaning to be ex- 
pressed is, rebuked them to make them hold their 
peace ; as expressed in Mark x, 48, " charged 
him that he should hold his peace," and Luke 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 25 
Beeves. Bestead. 



xviii, 39, "rebuked him that he should hold his 
peace." 

Because (for the cause that, in order that) in 
old English marks the intention of an act, as the 
reason for it. 

It is. the care of some .... to contrive some false periods 
of business, because they may seem men of dispatch. 

Bacon's Essays. 

Beeves. Ye shall offer at your own will a male without 
blemish, of the beeves, of the sheep, etc. — Lev. xxii, 19. 

Beeves is the genuine plural of beef, and means 
the living animals. We find the same term in 
the form beefs in Shakspeare. 

As flesh of mutton, beefs, or goats. 

Besom. (Isa. xiv, 23.) Besom means a broom. The word 
is still common as a provincialism in England. 

I am the besom that must sweep the court clean of such 
filth as thou art. Shakspeare. 

Bestead. And they shall pass through it, hardly be- 
stead and hungry. — Isa. viii, 21. 

A word now obsolete. It means situated, from 
the Anglo-Saxon " stede," a place (as in instead, 
that is, in place; homestead, home place). Hardly 



26 BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Bestow. Blaze. 

bestead, in the above passage, means, therefore, 
roughly situated, placed in difficulty. 

I never saw a fellow worse bestead, 

Or more afraid to fight, than is the appellant. 

Shakspeare. 

Bestow. To stow away, to lay up in store. — 2 Kmgs 
v, 24 ; Luke xii, 17, 18. Also to dispose of, to put a thing 
where it may be needed. — 1 Kings x, 26. 

Hence, and bestow your luggage where you found it. 

Shakspeare. 

Bewray. Bewray not him that wandereth. — Isa. xvi, 
3. See also Prov. xxvii, 16 ; Matt, xxvi, 73 

The meaning of bewray is to point out, to dis- 
cover, to show. Sometimes it is used in the 
same sense as betray, though the idea of treach- 
ery involved in the latter is not implied in be- 
wray. 

Here comes the queen, whose looks bewray her anger. 

Shakspeare. 

Blaze. But he went out, and began to publish it much, 
and to blaze abroad the matter. — Mark i, 45. 

The more usual modern form of blaze is bla- 
zon : it means to spread far and wide. Blaze 
comes from the Anglo-Saxon "blaesan," to blow ; 
whence blast. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 27 

Blood-guiltiness. Book. 

The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes. 

Shakspeare. 

Blood-guiltiness. (Ps. li, 14.) The guilt of murder or 
bloodshed. 

Blow up. Blow up the trumpet in the new moon. — Ps. 
lxxxi, 3. 

To b/ora up meant to commence blowing upon, 
like the similar phrase lo strike up on a musical 
instrument. 

Strike up, pipers ! Shakspeare. 
Boiled. The flax was boiled. — Ex. ix, 31. 
Boiled, from a root expressing roundness, swell- 
ing, means swollen, podded for seed. 

Bonnet. And for Aaron's sons thou shalt make coats 
. . . . and bonnets. — Ex. xxviii, 40. 

Bonnet formerly meant a head-dress generally, 
whether worn by men or women ; but it is now 
confined to the latter. 

I think he bought his doublet in Italy, his round hose in 
France, his bonnet in Germany. Shakspeare. 

Book. Behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would 
answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book. — 
Job xxxi, 35. 

Any formal writing was called a book ; as in 
Shakspeare : — 



28 BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Boss. Bravery. 

By this one book is drawn ; we '11 but seal, 
And then to horse immediately. 

In the passage of Job quoted above the word 
book means a formal indictment. 

Boss. He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon 
the thick bosses of his bucklers. — Job xv, 26. 

Bosses meant the knobs or ornaments of a 
shield. 

Bowels. [Phil, i, 8; ii, 1.) The bowels were supposed 
by the old anatomists to be the seat of the affections, and 
hence the word came to signify compassion, sympathy. 

Brass. Provide neither gold nor silver nor brass in 
your purses. — Matt, x, 9. 

The word brass here means copper or brass 
money. It is still sometimes used as a colloquial 
word for money in general. 

Bravery. In that day the Lord will take away the 
bravery of their tinkling ornaments. — Isa. iii, 18. 

The meaning of bravery in the above passage 
is finery, splendid show, which was its ordinary 
significance at the time of our translation. In 
this sense the word is now obsolete. 

Like a stately ship 

Of Tarsus, bound for the Isles 

Of Javan or Gadier, 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 29 
Bray. Bruit. 



With all her bravery on and tackle trim, 
Sails filled, and streamers waving. 

Milton, Samso7i Agonistes. 

Bray. Though thou shouldst bray a fool in a mortar, 
.... yet will not his foolishness depart from him. — Prov. 
xxvii, 22. 

To bray means to grind or rub in pieces. 

Nay, if he take you in hand, sir, with an argument, 
He '11 bray you in a mortar. Ben Jonson. 

Brigandine. Furbish the spears, and put on the brig- 
andines. — Jer. xlvi, 4. 

Brigandine denotes a kind of coat of mail, — 
so called from being worn by the light troops 
called brigands. 

Bring". And they all brought us on our way. — Acts 
xxi, 5. See also Gen. xviii, 16 ; 2 Cor. i, 16. 

There has been some change in the meaning 
of bring since the seventeenth century. It then 
meant to accompany, to escort, and not merely to 
fetch) as with us. 

I pray you bring me on the way a little. 

Shakspeare. 

Bruit. All that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the 
hands over thee. — Nahum hi, 19. 



3° 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 



Bunch. By and by. 

The word bruit is now obsolete. It means re- 
port or rumor, something noised abroad ; from the 
French "bruit," noise. 

The bruit is Hector 's slain, and by Achilles. 

Shakspeare. 

Bunch. (Isa. xxx, 6.) A hump. 

But. Sometimes means without or except, as in Ps. 
xix, 3. 

By and by. Give me by and by in a charger the head 
of John the Baptist. — Mark vi, 25. 

The Greek word here translated by and by sig- 
nifies immediately or presently^ and this was pre- 
cisely the meaning of by and by at the time of 
our translation. The expression, now denoting 
a future more or less remote from the present, 
then had the force of the immediate future. So 
Luke xxi, 9. The end is not by and by, — the end 
is not at present or immediately. 

And some counseled the archbishop to burn me by and 
by, and some others counseled him to throw me in the sea, 
for it is near hand there. Fox's Book of Martyrs. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 3 I 

Calvary. Carriage. 



c. 

Calvary. From the Latin "calvaria," a skull, like the 
Hebrew golgotha. The Greek word is the same in all the 
four Gospels {Malt, xxvii, 33; Mark xv, 22 ; Luke xxiii, 
33; John xix, 17), and in all is translated calvaria in the 
Latin Vulgate, which the English Bible transfers only in 
Luke, giving the literal translation in the other Gospels. 

Captivate. (2 Chron. xxviii, 3.) The word captivate 
is here used in its literal sense of to take captive. 

And when the captivated king would have fallen on his 
knees. Bacon's Essays. 

Carriage. And David left his carriage in the hand of 
the keeper of the carriage. — 1 Sam. xvii, 22. See also 
Judges xviii, 21 ; Lsa. x, 28; Acts xxi, 15. 

In the nineteenth century the meaning of car- 
riage is that which carries ; in the seventeenth 
century it meant that which is carried, that is, 
baggage. David left his carriage, signifies, there- 
fore, that David left his baggage, the provisions 
for the soldiery, described in verses 17, 18. 

Spartacus charged his [Lentulus's] lieutenants that led 
the army, gave them battle, overthrew them, and took all 
their carriage [that is, baggage]. North's Plutarch, 1617. 



32 BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Cast. Changeable. 



Cast. Cast off. — jfer. xxxviii, II. 

He hath bought a pair of cast lips of Diana. 

Shakspeare. 

Caul. In that day the Lord will take away .... their 
cauls. — Isa. in, 18. 

Caul means a net, a part of the head-dress. 

Chamberlain. In Acts xii, 20, he who had charge of 
the king's bedchamber. In Rom. xvi, 23, it is the transla- 
tion of the word rendered steward in Matt, xx, 8, and Luke 
viii, 3, and means the one to whom the care of the city was 
committed. 

Champaign. The Canaanites, which dwell in the 
champaigiro\<zx against Gilgal. — Dent, xi, 30. 

Champaign signifies a plain or level country. 
It is derived from the Latin " campus/' a plain, 
through the French champagne. The word is 
still sometimes used in this sense. 

Of all these bounds, even from this line to this, 
With shadowy forests and with champaigns rich'd, 
We make thee lady. Shakspeare. 

Changeable. [In that day the Lord will take away] 
the changeable suits of apparel. — Isa. iii, 22. 

Changeable is here used in its passive sense of 
that which may be changed, — a meaning not now 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 33 
Chapiter. Charger. 

common, — and holiday suits are meant, which 
were exchanged for the ordinary every-day at- 
tire. 

Chapiter. (Ex. xxxvi, 38; I Kings vii, 16.) Chapiter 
means the capital of a column. 

Chapmen. The weight of gold that came to Solomon 
.... beside that which chapmen brought. — 2 Chron. ix, 14. 

The word chapman means a merchant. It is 
now obsolete. (The element chap is connected 
with our word cheap, which literally means trade 
or business.) 

You do as chapmen do, 
Dispraise the thing that you desire to buy. 

Shakspeare. 

Charger. Give me here John Baptist's head in a 
charger. — Matt, xiv, 8. 

The word charger here means that on which 
anything is laid ; a dish. In this sense the word 
is now obsolete. Charger in the old meaning, 
and charger in its modern sense of a horse, are 
both derived from the French verb "charger," 
to load. A charger is a dish fitted to bear a load ; 
a charger, in the modern meaning, is a horse on 
which one bears down on the enemy. 



3 



34 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 



Charity. Choice. 

In this one charger he served up at the table all kinds of 
birds that either could sing or say after a man. 

Holland's Pliny. 

Charity. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these 
three ; but the greatest of these is charity. — I Cor. xiii, 13. 

The original Greek word here rendered by 
charity means love, and this was the meaning of 
charity when our translation was made. The 
change of meaning which the word has under- 
gone is a process of contraction, — charity, which 
originally meant love, being now limited to 
certain manifestations of it, as in almsgiving, 
forbearance towards the supposed or admitted 
frailties of others, etc. 

In the earlier translation of the Bible made by Wycliffe, 
the passage rendered in our version " neither death nor life 
. . . . shall separate us from the love of God/' is translated 
the " charity of God." 

Chode. And Jacob was wroth, and chode with Laban. 

— Gen. xxxi, 36. 

Chode is the obsolete past tense of the verb to 

chide. 

Choice. In the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead. 

— Gen. xxiii, 6. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 35 
Choler. Church. 



Choice originally means the most excellent of 

anything. 

So full replete with choice of all delights. 

Shakspeare. 

Choler. And I saw him come close up to the ram, and 
he was moved with choler against him. — Dan. viii, 7. 

Choler means anger or rage. It is still used, 
though rarely. Compare our adjective choleric. 

Note. — Choler comes from the Greek word for bile, 
chole, whence, also, we have our melancholy, literally black 
bile. It was anciently supposed that a superabundance of 
bile produced choler and melancholy. 

Chrysolite, The seventh, chrysolite. — Rrj. xxi, 20. 

The chrysolite is the topaz, which was so called 
from its golden color, — chrysolite signifying in 
Greek golden stone. 

If heaven would make me such another world 

Of one entire and perfect chrysolite, 

I 'd not have sold her for it. Shakspeare. 

Church. For ye have brought hither these men which 
are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of 
your goddess. — Acts xix, 37. 

In this passage church is used with reference 
to a heathen temple, and this use of the word 



36 BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Cieled. Coast. 

was not uncommon at the time our translation 
of the Bible was made. 

Cieled. Panelled, wainscotted. — 2 Chron. iii, 5 ; Jer. 
xxii, 14; Ezek. xli, 16. 

Cieling. Wainscotting. — 1 Kings vi, 15. 

Clean. Entirely. — Josh, iii, 17; Psa lxxvii, 8; Tsa. 
xxiv, 19. 

This fault is clean contrary to the first. 

Ascham's Schoolmaster. 

Closet. Any private apartment. — Matt, vi, 5. 

Clouts, Clouted. [Jer. xxxviii, 11, 12.) Old shoes 
and clouted on our feet. — Josh, ix, 5. 

Clouts meant rags or patches ; clouted, patched. 
The words are still retained in the Scottish dia- 
lect. 

Paul, yea, and Peter too, had more skill in mending an 
old net, and in clouting an old tent, than to teach lawyers 
what diligence they should use in the expedition of matters. 

Latimer's Sermons. 

Coast. And when they saw him, they besought him 
that he would depart out of their coasts. — Matt, viii, 34. 

Coast is now used exclusively with reference 
to the margin of the sea ; but in our older litera- 
ture it is not so confined, and is used to denote 
the borders of a country generally. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 37 
Coat. Come by. 

Coat. I have put off my coat. — Song of Solomon v, 3. 

The word coat now denotes an article of male 
dress ; but formerly it applied also to female at- 
tire, and in this sense it is used here. 

Cockle. {Job xxxi, 40.) The Hebrew word translated 
cockle meant a noxious weed growing in grain-fields. It 
has not been satisfactorily identified with any known plant. 
By some it is supposed to be the same as the tares men- 
tioned in Matt, xiii, 30, but without any decisive grounds 
for the opinion. 

Collops. By collops of fat, in Job xv, 27, are meant 
masses of fat, the Hebrew word meaning simply fat or fat- 
ness. The word is still used in Yorkshire (England) for 
lumps or slices of meat. 

Thou art a collop of my flesh. 

Shakspeare. 

Color. The shipmen were about to flee out of the ship 
.... under color as though they would have cast anchor 
out of the foreship. — Acts xxvii, 30. 

Color here means a pretext, — a use of the 
word not yet obsolete. 

Come at. {Num. vi, 6.) To come near. 

He hath not slept to-night; commanded 

None should come at him. Shakspeare. 

Come by. We had much work to come by the boat. — 
Acts xxvii, 16. 



3» 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 



Comely. Common. 



To come by meant to acquire, to get possession 
of, as still used colloquially. The literal render- 
ing is, " to become masters of the boat," to get it 
under control so as to hoist it into the ship. 
(Verse 17.) 

Comely. (Psa. xxxiii, 1 ; Eccl. v, 18.) Becoming, in a 
moral sense. 

Comfortable. The word of my God the king shall now 
be comfortable. — 2 Sam. xiv, 17. 

Comfortable here means comforting, consoling. 
There has been a change in the signification of 
this word, — a change from the power of impart- 
ing comfort (its older meaning) to the passive 
possession of comfort (its present force). 

As for the comfortable places of Scripture, to bring them 
unto him, it was as though a man would run him through 
the heart with a sword. Latimer's Sermo7is. 

Comfortably. (Isa. xl, 2.) Consolingly, in a way to 
comfort, to console. 

Communication. (1 Cor. xv, 33.) Intercourse, asso- 
ciation, companionship. 

Common. There is no common bread under mine hand, 
but there is hallowed bread. — I Sam. xxi, 4. See also 
Acts x, 14. 

Not of a distinctive and separate or sacred 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 39 
Compass. Confectionary. 

character, not set apart from common and pro- 
miscuous use ; hence what is Levitically and 
ceremonially impure. 

Compass. And from thence we fetched a compass and 
came to Rhegium. — Acts xxviii, 13. 

The word compass, as a noun, meant circumfer- 
ence, circuit (Ex. xxvii, 5 ; xxxviii, 4) ; and to 
" fetch a compass " meant to make a circuit, to 
go round. The phrase was formerly in common 
use. 

For 't is his custom, like a sneaking fool, 
To fetch a compass of a mile about, 
And creep where he would be. 

Hey wood's Fair Maid of the ExcJia7ige. 

Coney. The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they 
their houses in the rocks. — Prov. xxx, 26. 

By the word translated coney is meant a feeble 
and timid animal, somewhat resembling a rabbit, 
dwelling in holes in the rocks, very shy and dif- 
ficult to capture. It is the Hyrax Syriacus of 
scientific zoology, and is known by different local 
names, as daman, tubsun y and wober or wabr. 

Confection. (Ex. xxx, 35.) A compound or mixture; 
a Latin sense of the word. 

Confectionary. And he will take your daughters to be 



40 BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Confound. Convenient, 

confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. — I Sam. 
viii, 13. 

Notice that we should now use the form con- 
fectioner ; but confectio?iary was the older form. 

But myself 
Who had the world as my confectionary. 

Shakspeare. 

Confound. Be not dismayed at their faces, lest I con- 
found thee before them. — Jer. i, 17. 

Confound with fear, or with shame, is the 
meaning. The Hebrew word is translated dis- 
mayed in the first clause, and confounded in the 
second ; and the literal translation is : Be not 
dismayed at their faces, lest I dismay thee be- 
fore them. 

Convenient. Nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which 
are not convenient. — Eph. v, 4. See also Prov. xxx, 8 ; 
Rom. i, 28. 

Convenient, in accordance with its etymology 
from the Latin conveniens, signified originally fit- 
ting, becoming, suitable, and in this sense it is used 
several times in our version. 

Maintained with such a proportion of land unto them as 
may breed a subject to live in convenient plenty, and no 
Servile condition. Bacon's Essays. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 41 

Conversation. Couch. 

Conversation. To slay such as be of upright conversa- 
tion. — Psa. xxxvii, 14 (properly, of upright way, course of 
life). To him that ordereth his conversation aright. — Psa, 
1, 23 (properly, ordereth his way, his manner of life). We 
have had our conversation in the world. — 2 Cor. i, 12 (prop- 
erly, did we deport ourselves in the world). Let your con- 
versation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ. — Phil. 
i, 27 (properly, your deportment). 

In these and some other passages conversation 
(from the Latin conversari) meant manner of life, 
general deportment. But in Heb. xiii, 5, it is the 
translation of a different Greek word, meaning 
disposition. In Phil, iii, 20, it is the translation 
of still another word, and means citizenship, — we 
are citizens of heaven. (Compare Heb. xiii, 14.) 

Corn. His disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did 
eat, rubbing them in their hands. — Luke vi, 1. 

By corn, in the Bible, is meant wheat or barley, 
especially the former. 

Couch. The deep that coucheth beneath. — Dent. 
xxxiii, 13. 

That is, that lieth beneath. The Hebrew verb 
is properly applied to wild beasts and other ani- 
mals couching down for their prey, or in rest. 



42 BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Course. Crib. 



Course. All the foundations of the earth are out of 
course. — Psa. lxxxii, 5. 

Out of course, — out of line, jostled from their 
place. A wall is built by successive layers or 
courses ^ one upon another in regular lines. To 
be out of course is for the stones to be shaken from 
their proper order. 

Covert. When [the young lions] couch in their dens, 
and abide in the covert to lie in wait. — Job xxxviii, 40. 

Covert, as a rroun, means shelter or hiding-place. 

Cracknel. And take with thee ten loaves and crack- 
nets. — 1 Kings xiv, 3. 

A cracknel was a kind of cake, so called from 
the sharp noise made in breaking it. The word 
is now obsolete. 

Creature. Who changed the truth of God into a lie, 
and worshiped and served the creature more than the 
Creator. — Rom. i, 25. See also 1 Tim. iv, 4; James i, 18. 

From the Latin creatura in its original sense 
of anything created; the word is not limited to 
living things. The same word is rendered crea- 
tion in Rom. viii, 22, which is translated creature 
in verses 19, 20, 21, 39. 

Crib. (Isa. i, 3.) Crib here means a manger for cattle. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 43 

Crisping-pins. Cunning. 

Crisping-pins. And the crisping-pins. — Isa. hi, 22. 
Crisping-pins were curling-irons. But the He- 
brew word means a purse, or bag, for carrying 
money, and is so used in 2 Kings v, 23: "And 
bound two talents of silver in two bags" 

Cruse. And take with thee ten loaves and cracknels, 
and a cruse of money. — I Kings xiv, 3. 

A cruse meant a crock, or pot 

Ever as they have reduced any into powder, they put it 
into sundry pots, or cruses. Holland's Pliny. 

Cumber. Cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? 
— Luke xiii, 7. 

Cumber is the older form of the word which 
we now write encumber. It means to burden, to 
embarrass, to vex or trouble, to annoy. In Luke 
x, 40, it is the translation of a Greek word which 
means to be distracted in mind, to be overtasked 
with cares. 

What is the matter, that thy spirit is so cumbered, and 
that thou eatest no bread ? 

Covf.rd ale's Translation, i Kings xxi, 5. 

Cunning, adjective. So the number of them, with their 
brethren, that were instructed in the songs of the Lord, 
even all that were cunnings was two hundred fourscore and 
eight. — I Chron. xxv, 7. 



44 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 



Cunning. Curiously. 

The original sense of cunning was knowing, 
hence skilled : Is a. iii, 3, cunning artificer; xl, 20, 
cnnn ///^workman. This is the signification in the 
above passage. "All that were cunning" means 
all that were knowing or skilled, that is, " in the 
songs of the Lord." The word has since degen- 
erated, so as to mean skilled in a crooked way. 

Note. — Cunning is originally the same as canning, that 
is, being able ; and canning is related to kenning ox knozv- 
ing, which gives us the primary and pure signification of 
the term. 

Cunning, noun. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my 
right hand forget her cunning. — Ps. cxxxvii, 5. 

In like manner, the noun cunning meant skill 
or knowledge-, "forget her cunning" that is, forget 
its skill. 

I believe that all these three Persons [in the Godhead] 
are even in power, and in cunning, and in might, full of 
grace and of all goodness. Fox's Book of Martyrs. 

Curious, Curiously. The word curious occurs in sev- 
eral passages. Thus the "ctirious girdle " of the ephod is 
spoken of in Ex. xxviii, 8, and in Ex. xxxv, 32, the expres- 
sion " curiotis works" is used to designate embroidery or 
works of skill. So, also, in Ps. cxxxix, 15, there occurs 
the phrase u curiously wrought in the lower parts of the 
earth." 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 45 
Damned. Daysman. 

The term curious in these passages is used in 
its original sense, namely, wrought with care and 
art (Latin " cura," care). The " curious girdle " 
was a richly embroidered belt. A like use of 
this word was common in the literature of the 
seventeenth century. Thus, 

He, sir, was lapp'd 
In a most curious mantle, wrought by the hand 
Of his queen mother. Shakspeake. 



D. 

Damned, Damnation. The Greek words are so trans- 
lated in Mark xvi, 16; Rom. iii, 8; xiv, 23; 2 T/iess. ii, 
12 ; I Cor. xi, 29, and a few other places ; in most passages 
they are properly translated cojidemned and condemnation. 

Darling. Deliver my soul from the sword ; my darling 
from the power of the dog. — Ps. xxii. 20. 

The word darling is formed from dear, and 
though it would now scarcely be used in a re- 
ligious work, its employment was very common 
at the time when our translation was made. In 
Psa. xxii, 20, it means what is specially dear, 
namely, life. 

Daysman. Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, 
that might lay his hand upon us both. — Job. ix, 33. 



46 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 



Dayspring. Debate. 

The word daysman is now obsolete. It meant 
an arbiter or umpire. The literal meaning of 
daysman seems to be one who appoints a day on 
which to hear and decide between contestants, — 
hence an umpire. 

For what art thou, 
That mak'st thyself his daysman to prolong 
The vengeance pressed. Spenser. 

Dayspring. Through the tender mercy of our God ; 
whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us. — 
Luke i, 78. 

Dayspri7tg means the dawn, daybreak, or sun- 
rise. 

Soon as they forth were come to open sight 

Of dayspring. Milton. 

Deal, noun. The word deal literally means a part, and 
a great deal means simply a great part. In the seventeenth 
century a wider use was made of this word than is now 
allowable. Thus we read in Leviticus of the tenth deal, 
meaning the tenth part or tithe. 

Debate. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate.— Isa. 
lviii, 4. 

Debate is here used in its original strong sense 
of contention, strife. 

Debate comes from the French " debattre," to beat down. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 47 
Deceivableness. Desire. 

Deceivableness. With all deceivableness of unright- 
eousness. — 2 Thess. ii, 10. 

Deceptiveness is the meaning. Old writers 
used deceivable for deceptive. 

But they have a fidem 7nendacem, a. false faith, a deceivable 
faith. Latimer's Sermons. 

Decently, (i Cor. xiv, 40.) Becomingly, properly. 

Deck. I have decked my bed with coverings of tap- 
estry. — Prov. vii, 16. 

The word deck here means to overspread, which 
is the sense of the Hebrew word. 

Demand. (2 Sam. xl, 7.) To ask ; not as now, to ask 
with authority 

Denounce. {Dent, xxx, 18.) To announce, declare, 
proclaim. 

Desire. He [Jehoram] reigned in Jerusalem eight 
years, and departed without being desired. — 2 Chron. xxi, 
20. 

To desire means now to look forward to with 
longing ; but at the time of our translation it sig- 
nified, also, to look back upon with regret. This 
is its sense in the above passage ; departed with- 
out being desired, that is, without being regretted. 

She shall be pleasant while she lives, and desired when 
she dies. Jeremy Taylor's Sermons.* 



i 



48 BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Despite. Discover. 

Despite. To do despite to (Heb. x, 29) means to insult, 
to outrage. 

Despiteful. (Ezek. xxv, 15.) Proud, contemptuous. 

Despitefully. (Matt, v, 44.) Abusively, insultingly. 

Die the death (Matt, xv, 4; Mark vii, 10) is a Hebraism, 
quoted from Ex. xxi, 17, " shall surely be put to death," and 
has the same meaning, " let him surely die." 

Diligence. The phrases do diligence (2 Tim. iv, 9, 21) 
and give diligence (2 Pet. i, 10) are frequently found in old 
writers. Their meaning will not be difficult to discover. 

Disallow. To whom coming, as unto a living stone, 
disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious. 
— I Pet. ii, 4. 

Disallow means to disapprove, to reject. 

Allowing that that is good, and disallowing the contrary. 

Latimer's Ser?nons. 

Discipline. He openeth also their ear to discipline. — 

Job xxxvi, 10. 

Discipline is here used in its true meaning of 
iiistruction. 

Discover. The voice of the Lord .... discovereth the . 
forests. — Ps. xxix, 9. 

Discover is here used in its literal sense, — to 
z///cover, to lay bare. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 49 
Dissolve. Doctrine. 



Go, draw aside the curtains and discover 
The several caskets to this noble prince. 

Shakspeare. 

Dissolve. And I have heard of thee, that thou canst 
make interpretations, and dissolve doubts. — Da?i. v, 16. 
We would now use the form solve. 

Dissolve this doubtful riddle. 

Massixger's The Duke of Milan. 

Distaff. (Prov. xxxi, 19.) The staff on which the flax 
or tow was rolled in spinning. 

Doctor. They found him in the temple, sitting in the 
midst of the doctors. — Luke ii, 46. 

Doctor in its primary sense is a teacher. It ap- 
plies to any one skilled in any branch of science 
or philosophy ; but the word is now commonly 
so exclusively confined to members of the medi- 
cal profession, that its meaning in the Bible may 
be misunderstood unless we bear in mind its 
proper original sense. 

You may imagine what kind of faith theirs was, when 
the chief doctors and fathers of their church were the poets. 

Bacon's Essays. 

Doctrine. Literally, teaching ; usually means what is 
taught ; but in some passages (as Mark iv, 2) it means act 
of teaching, and in Matt, vii, 28, manner of teaching, namely, 
with authority (verse 29). 



4 



50 BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Do to wit. Ear. 

Do to wit. To make to know. " We do you to wit of 
the grace of God" (2 Cor. vih, 1), we cause you to know, 
we make known to you, the grace of God. 

Duke. These were dukes of the sons of Esau. — Gen. 
xxxvi, 15. 

Duke is derived from the Latin word " dux," a 
leader. In its primary sense, it means a leader 
or chieftain. It has now acquired, in England, 
a special meaning as a term of rank, but this 
was not the case in the seventeenth century. 
Latimer speaks of Gideon as " a duke which God 
raised up." 

Dure. Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for 
a while. — Matt, xiii, 21. 

This is the same word which we now write en- 
dure. Our word during comes from the same 
root. 

E. 

Ear, verb> Earing. The oxen likewise and the young 
asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender. — Isa. 
xxx, 24. 

Used as a verb, the term ear is more likely to 
be misunderstood than almost any other word in 
our version of the Holy Scriptures. It means to 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 



51 



Earnest. Emulation. 

plough. It is derived from the Latin arare, to 
plough. The term is now wholly obsolete. The 
noun earing means ploughing. 

And let them go 
To ear the land that hath some hope to grow. 

Shakspeare. 

Earnest, noun. Who hath also sealed us, and given 
the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. — 2 Cor. i, 22. 

Earnest here means a pledge or security. 

Edify. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of 
your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, 
that it may minister grace unto the hearers. — Eph. iv, 29. 
See also Rom. xiv, 19 ; 1 Cor. x, 23. 

There is a fine metaphor in the term edify. 
Its literal meaning is to construct a house, to build 
up. (Latin edificare : our edifice is from the same 
root.) In its spiritual meaning it denotes men- 
tal or moral advancement. The same metaphor 
occurs in Acts xx, 32, where the Greek word is 
translated "to build you up." 

Emulation. {Gal. v, 20.) Emulation is here equivalent 
to rivalry in a bad sense. This was a common meaning in 
the seventeenth century. 

I was advertised their great general slept, 
Whilst emulation in the army crept. 

Shakspeare. 



52 BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Enchantment. Ensue. 

Enchantment. (Ex. vii, 1 1 ; Lev. xix, 26 ; Eccl. x, 
II.) Incantation ; properly, the chanting of magical words 
supposed to hav e a potent influence ; the use of magic arts, 
spells, or charms. 

Endamage. (Ezra iv, 13.) This word is now repre- 
sented by the shorter form damage. 

Engine. And he made in Jerusalem engines, invented 
by cunning men. — 2 Chron. xxvi, 15. 

Pngine has now a meaning which the word 
did not bear at the time our translation was 
made. In its Bible use it signifies a military 
machine, an implement of warfare. 

Enlarge. Thou hast enla?ged my steps under me ; so 
that my feet did not slip. — 2 Sam. xxii, 37 ; Ps. xviii, 36. 

The word means, to make wide, broad, — and 
the sense is, thou hast made broad my steps un- 
der me, so that my feet did not waver. It also 
signifies to give enlargement, as in Ps. iv, 1, 
Thou hast enlarged me (hast given me enlarge- 
ment) when I was in distress (literally, in a strait), 
— the same word which is translated narroiv, " a 
narrow place," in Num. xxii, 26. 

Ensample. (1 Cor. x, 11.) The more usual form of 
example in old authors. 

Ensue. (1 Pet. iii, 11.) To follow after and overtake. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 53 
Enticing. Eyeservice. 
Enticing, (i Cor. ii, 4; Col. ii, 4.) Persuasive. 

Entreat. For which we now use treat, in such connec- 
tions as Gen. xii, 16 ; Ex. v, 22 ; Z#&? xx, 11, etc. 

Eschew. (7^ i, 1 ; 1 Pet. in, 11.) To turn away from, 
to shun. 

Estate. Who remembered us in our low estate. — Ps. 
cxxxvi, 23. 

This word in the Bible and in old writers gen- 
erally is not confined to the meaning which it 
now bears, but is synonymous with the word 
state, meaning condition. 

Eventide. (Gen. xxiv, 63 ; Josh, vii, 6.) The evening. 
The word tide is the Saxon for time. 

Evilfavouredness. (Dent, xvii, 1.) Ugliness, deformity. 

Exchanger. (Matt, xxv, 27.) A money-changer, banker. 

Exorcist. (Acts xix, 13.) Exorcists were those who 
pretended to raise or cast out devils or evil spirits. 

Eyeservice. Xot with eyeservice, as men-pleasers. — 
Eph. vi, 6. 

Eyeservice is one of the words for which our 
language is indebted to the translation of the 
Bible. It is an exact rendering of a Greek word 
signifying service done under the master's eye only. 



54 BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Fain. Familiar spirit. 



F. 

Fain. {Job xxvii, 22 ; Luke xv, 16 ) Gladly. 

Faint, verb. (Ltcke xviii, 1 ; 2 Cor. iv, 16.) To be dis- 
couraged, to lose confidence. 

Fair. I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy 
foundations with sapphires. — Isa. liv, 11. 

Fair here means beautiful, in which sense it 
was once common. 

Fame. And the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh's 
house. — Gen. xlv, 16. 

Fame is here used in its primary sense of re- 
port, tidings. It is now generally applied to the 
reputation derived from the report of some great 
action. 

Familiar spirit. And Saul had put away those that 
had familiar spirits •, and the wizards out of the land. — 
I Sam. xxviii, 3. 

Familiar spirit (from the Latin familiaris, a 
household servant, or personal attendant) sig- 
nifies a genius, or sprite ; that is, the being who 
was supposed to be in attendance upon the old 
necromancers, and who obeyed their commands 
and discharged their commissions like a servant. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 55 
Familiars. Fenced. 

Familiars, noun. (fer. xx, 10.) Intimate friends. 
The word is now obsolete as a noun. 

Fashion. And being found in fashion as a man, he 
humbled himself, etc. — Phil, ii, 8. 

Fashion has here its original sense of make, 
shape, form, — a wider meaning than that which it 
now bears. 

Favour. (Prov. xix, 6; Ps. xlv, 12.) As here used, 
favour is the rendering of a word meaning face, counte- 
nance, or appearance, in which sense it constantly occurs 
in old writers, and is retained in the adjectives \l\-favoured, 
well-favoured. 

I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus, 
As well as I do know your outward favour. 

Shakspeare. 

Fear. {Gen. xxxi, 42, 53.) The cause or object of fear, 
meaning the God who was feared. 

Fearful. And he said unto them, Why are ye fearful, 
O ye of littb faith ? — Matt, viii, 26. See also Deut. xx, 8 ; 
Isa. xxxv, 4. 

The more usual sense of fearful is that which 
causes fear ; but here it signifies timorous, faint- 
hearted. 

Fenced. [Num. xxxii, 17, 36, etc.) Fortified, protected 
by artificial defenses. 



56 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 



Fine. 



Forwardness. 



Fine, Finer, Fining, where we should now use refine, 
refiner, etc., occur in Job xxviii, I ; Prov. xvii, 3 ; xxv, 4 ; 
xxvii, 21. 

Firstling. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings 
of his flock. — Gen. iv, 4. 

Firstling means the first offspring; used gener- 
ally of animals. 



Flood. Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood 
in old time. — Josh, xxiv, 2. 

In olden times the word flood was applied to 
any stream, not merely to an overflow. 

With these came they, who from the bordering flood 
Of old Euphrates, etc. Milton 
Fold. {John x, 16.) From the Latin Vulgate ovile. 
The true rendering is flock, ■ — " one flock, one shepherd." 

Folk. And he could there do no mighty work, save 
that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk. — Mark vi, 5. 

Folk is here used as a plural, of which it is the 
correct form (like Anglo-Saxon folc). 

Forswear thyself. {Matt, v, 33.) To forswear one's 
self is to swear falsely, to perjure one's self. 

Forwardness. (2 Cor. viii, 8; ix, 2.) Readiness, 
earnestness. 



The firstlings of my heart shall be 
The firstlings of my hand. 



Shakspeare. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 57 
Fowler. Furniture. 



Fowler. (Ps. xci, 3 ; Prav. vi, 5.) From the Anglo- 
Saxon "fugelere," a bird-catcher. 

Frankly. And when they had nothing to pay, he 
frankly forgave them both. — Luke vii, 42. 

The word frankly is here used in its literal 
sense of freely. 

O, were it but my life, 

I 'd throw it down for your deliverance 

As frankly as a pin. Shakspeare. 

Fray. [Deut xxviii, 26; Jer. vii, 33; Zech. i, 21.) 
Means affright, terrify. 

Fret. It is fret inward. — Lev. xiii, 55. 

Fret means eaten in, from the Anglo-Saxon 
" fretan," to eat, and hence to corrode. The He- 
brew is a noun meaning a hollow spot, here de- 
noting the plague-spot that has eaten into the 
texture of a leprous garment. 

Froward. {Dent, xxxii, 20.) Perverse, disinclined to 
what is reasonable and required. It is a contraction of the 
Anglo-Saxon " from-weard," from-tvard, the opposite of 
to-ward. 

Fuller. (Mark ix, 3.) A bleacher or scourer of cloth, 
whose business was also the fulling of cloth. 

Furniture. Now Rachel had taken the images and put 
them in the camel's furniture. — Gen. xxxi, 34. 



5 8 BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Gad. Garnish. 



Furniture was formerly used in the general 
sense of equipment, accoutrements. Carpets, thrown 
over the camel's saddle for women's use, would 
be a convenience in the tent, and form a place of 
concealment. 

G. 

Gad. {jfer. ii, 36.) To rove about without any good 
purpose, gossiping, sight-seeing, and the like. 

Gain a loss. (Acts xxvii, 21.) Sirs, ye should have 
hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and 
to have gained this harm and loss (more exactly, and have 
gained this harm and loss). 

To gain a loss or other harm, that is, to reap 
disadvantage from a thing, is a paradoxical ex- 
pression, of which the point lies in the verbal 
paradox. It was for this reason a favorite ex- 
pression with ancient writers, and there are 
many examples of it. Overlooking this, some 
have thought that to gain, in the Greek language, 
means also not to gain, that is, to escape ; which is 
quite as paradoxical. The more exact rendering 
gives a consistent sense. 

Garnish. (2 Chron. iii, 6 ; Luke xi, 25.) To adorn, 
furnish. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 59 

Gazing-stock. Go aside. 

Gazing-stock. Partly, whilst ye were made a gazing- 
stock both by reproaches and afflictions. — Heb. x, 33. 

This word, of which the meaning is obvious, 
has become obsolete, though we retain laughing- 
stock. 

Generations. (Gen. ii, iv.) History, genealogy; thus 
" the generations of Noah," signifies the account of Noah 
and his family. 

Gin. The gin shall take him by the heel. — Job xviii, 9. 
Gin signifies a snare or device. 

Give place. (Gal. ii, 5 ; Eph. iv, 27.) To give way, 
to yield. (See Place.) 

Glass. For now we see through a glass, darkly. — 
I Cor. xiii, 12. 

Glass signifies a looking-glass or mirror, as in 
Isa. iii, 23. 

The glass of fashion and the mould of form. 

Shakspeare. 

Glistering. (1 Chron. xxix, 2.) Glistening, by which 
in modern usage it has been superseded. 

Go about. In John vii, 19, 20, and Ro?ji. x, 3, the 
translation of the Greek word meaning to seek, in the sense 
of endeavor. 

Go aside. [JVum.y, 12.) To swerve from the right way. 



I 



60 BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Go beyond. Governor. 
Go beyond, (i Thess. iv, 6.) To overreach. 

God speed. This, wherever it occurs in the Bible, 
should be written good speed, as it is in Gen. xxiv, 12. (See 
Webster's Dictionary, under God speed.) 

Go it up (Isa. xv, 5) is a transposition of the preposi- 
tion and its case, — not unfrequent in old writers, — mean- 
ing ascend it. 

Goodman. And this know, that if the goodman of the 
house had known what hour the thief would come, he 
would have watched, etc. — Luke xii 39. See also Prov. 
vii, 19. 

The term goodman, to denote the master of the 
house, was formerly in common use, especially 
when speaking of persons below the rank of 
what are in England called the gentry. 

Note. — Goodman is probably a corruption of the Anglo- 
Saxon "guma," a man; whence brydguma, a bridegroom. 

Go to. An interjection of incitement or exhortation, as 
in Gen. xi, 3, 4, 7 ; or challenging attention, as in Eccl. ii, 
I ; Isa. v, 5 ; James iv, 13 ; v, I. 

- Governor, [The ships] are turned about with a very 
small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. — James 
hi, 4. 

In this passage the word governor means a 
pilot, the man at the helm who governs the ship. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 6 1 

Gracious. Hale. 



Gracious. A gracious woman retaineth honor. — Prov. 
xi, 1 6. 

In the Bible, gracious is used in the passive 
sense of filled with grace, graceful, now generally 
used in the active sense of imparting grace or 
favor. 

In beauty that of favor [countenance] is more than that 
of color, and that of decent [becoming] and gracious mo- 
tion, more than that of favor. Bacon's Essays. 

Grinders. And the grinders cease because they are 
few. — Eccl. xii, 3. 

The 7nolars or jaw-teeth. 

Guilty of. Matt, xxvi, 66 ; Mark xiv, 64, " guilty of 
death " means guilty to the extent of meriting death, sub- 
ject to death as one whose guilt requires it. 



H. 

Habergeon. (Ex. xxviii, 32.) A little coat of mail 
covering the head and shoulders. 

Hale. Haling men and women, etc. — Acts viii, 3. 

To pull with force ; now common in the form 
haul. 



62 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 



Halt. Howbeit. 

Halt. (Gen. xxxii, 31; Ps. xxxviii, 17.) To limp, to 
walk lamely, or with feeble and tottering steps. 

Hap. (Ruth ii, 3.) Chance, fortune. 

Hardly. A rich man shall hardly enter into the king- 
dom of heaven. — Matt, xix, 23. 

Hardly has here its literal meaning, with diffi- 
culty. 

Health. That thy way may be known upon earth, thy 
saving health among all nations. — Ps. lxvii, 2. 

In this passage saving health is the rendering 
of the Hebrew word which is more frequently 
translated salvation. 

Heresy. The Greek word sometimes rendered heresy 
(which is the Greek word with an English termination) is 
properly translated seet'm Acts v, 17 ; xv, 5 ; xxiv, 5 ; xxvi, 
5; xxviii, 22. In Acts xxiv, 14; I Cor. xi, 19; Gal. v, 20; 
2 Pet. ii, I, where it is rendered heresy, it means a party 
or faction causing dissensions. 

His, where we should now use its, occurs frequently in 
the Bible ; indeed, its does not occur at all in the author- 
ized version, and very sparingly in old writers generally. 
His was the common possessive both of hit (it) and of he, 
in Anglo-Saxon. 

Howbeit. (Judges iv, 17 ; Isa. x. 7.) Notwithstanding, 
nevertheless. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 63 

Hunger-bitten. * Instant. 

Hungerbitten. His strength shall be hungerbitten. — 
Job xviii, 12. 

Famished, — not now in use. 

I. 

Imagery. Every man in the chambers of his imagery. 

— Ezek. viiij 12. 

The chambers of imagery in this passage are 
supposed to have been rooms of which the walls 
were decorated with various devices or painted 
figures as in the palaces and temples of Nineveh. 
And there beside of marble stone was built 
An altar carved with cunning imagery. Spenser. 

Inkhorn. One .... with a writer's inkhorn by his side. 

— Ezek. ix, 2. 

The word, with the thing, has become obso- 
lete, and inkstand^ the name, with the thing, has 
taken its place. 

Instant. And they were instant with loud voices, re- 
quiring that he might be crucified. — Luke xxiii, 23. See 
also Rom. xii, 12; 2 Tim. iv, 2. 

Instant in its older sense meant urgent^ perse- 
vering. 

We must be instant in prayer. Latimer's Sermons. 



64 BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Intend. Jot. 

Intend. For they intended evil against thee. — Ps. 
xxi, 11. 

Intend meant, originally, to strive after, then to 
meditate or plot, and this is the meaning in the 
above passage. 

j- 

Jacinth. Having breastplates of fire and of jacinth. — 
Rev. ix, 17. 

Contracted from hyacinth, a precious stone 
forming one of the twelve foundations of the 
New Jerusalem. 

Jewry. (Dan. v, 13; John vii, 1.) 

Jewry means Judcea, properly so called, — the 
part of Palestine occupied by the tribes of Judah 
and Benjamin after the captivity. 

Jot. Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle 
shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. — 
Matt, v, 18. 

Jot is from the Greek name (iota) of the 
Hebrew letter yod, the smallest letter of the 
Hebrew alphabet, and therefore the most likely 
to be omitted or overlooked. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 65 
Kerchief. Let. 



K. 

Kerchief. (Ezek. xiii, 18.) Kerchief means literally a 
covering for the head. It is derived from the French 
couvrechef. 

Kine. {Gen. xxxii, 15.) Kine is the old plural of cow. 
Compare the Scotch kye. 

Knop. (Ex. xxv, 31, 33, etc.) Properly a bud. 

L. 

Lace. (Ex. xxviii, 28, 37.) A band. 

Laud. Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles ; and laud him, 
all ye people. — Rom. xv, 11. 

Laud is derived from Latin "laudare," to praise. 

Leasing. How long will ye love vanity, and seek after 
leasing? — Ps. iv, 2. See also Ps. v, 6. 

Leasing means lying or falsehood, from the 
Anglo-Saxon adjective " leas," false. The word 
is now obsolete ; but was in common use in 
the seventeenth century. 

And all that fained is, as leasings, tales, and lies. 

Spenser's Fairy Queen. 
Let. Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, 
that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you (but was let 



s 



66 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 



Lewd. 

hitherto) that I might have some fruit among you also, 
even as among other Gentiles. — Rom. i, 13. See also 
Ex. v, 4 ; Isa. xliii, 13 ; 2 Thess. ii, 7. 

The modern verb let means to permit, to allow ; 
but in the seventeenth century there was another 
let coming from a different root and having quite 
the opposite meaning, namely, to hinder, — as in 
the above passage, " but was let hitherto/' that is, 
was hindered or prevented. 

I '11 make a ghost of him that lets [that is, that hinders 
or obstructs] me. Shakspeare. 

This word let is now out of use in English. 

Lewd. But the Jews which believed not, moved with 
envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, 
etc. — Acts xvii, 5. 

Lewd with us has a stronger and a more spe- 
cific meaning than it had in old English. It 
comes from a Saxon word meaning the common 
people, and signified ignorant, unlearned. It af- 
terwards acquired the meaning of low and vicious 
generally, and finally in modern times it has " re- 
tired from this general designation of all vices, 
to express one of the more frequent alone." 
(Trench's Glossary?) In the above passage " lewd 
fellows " means low fellows, the rabble. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 67 
Liking. Lively. 



Liking. {Job xxxix, 4.) Condition, plight. Worse 
liking {Dan, i, 10), in worse condition, worse looking. 

Lintel. {Ex. xii, 22, 23.) The upper part of the frame- 
work of a door. 

List. But I say unto you that Elias is indeed come, 
and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed. — 
Mark ix, 13. See also Matt, xvii, 12 ; John iii, 8. 

The verb list is now obsolete. It meant to 
like, please, will. 

If he had listed [that is, if he had liked or pleased} he 
might have stood on the water. Latimer's Sermons. 

The wind bloweth where it listeth, that is, where it wishes 
or pleases. 

Lively. Who received the lively oracles to give unto 
us. — Acts vii, 38. 

Lively is here equivalent to living. It is nearer 
the etymology of the word (namely, lifelike) than 
is our modern lively, which means nimble, spry. 

Him to a dainty flower she did transmew, 

Which in that cloth was wrought, as if it lively grew. 

Spenser's Fairy Queen. 

For they [the Hebrew women] are lively {Ex. i, 19), full 
of life, vigorous, strong. 



68 BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Lover. Make. 



Lover. My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my 
sores. — Ps. xxxviii, u. 

Lover, in its older meaning, was a beloved per- 
son generally, not necessarily of the opposite sex. 
In the above passage it means simply intimate 
friends. 

I tell thee, 
The general is my lover. 

Shakspeare. 

Lucre. Not greedy of filthy lucre. — I Tim. iii, 3. 

Lucre is derived from the Latin " lucrum," gain. 
" Filthy lucre " is base, sordid gain. 

The stratagems of prelates for their own ambition and 
lucre. Bacon's Essays. 



M. 

Magistrates, in Acts xvi, 20, 22, 35, 38, has a specific 
sense, referring to the Roman praetors at Philippi, a Roman 
colony. 

Magnifical. The house that is to be budded for the 
Lord must be exceeding magnifical. — I Chron. xxii, 5. 

Magnificat is the old form of the word now 
written magnificent. 

Make. What makest thou in this place ? — Judges 
xxviii, 3. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 69 
Make as if. Man-of-War. 

In that sense we now use do; but make, in 
that sense, was formerly in common use. 

- Thou frantic woman, what dost thou make here ? 

Shakspeare. 

Make as if. And Joshua and all Israel made as z/"they 
were beaten before them. — Josh, viii, 15. See also 2 Sam. 
xiii, 6 ; Luke xxiv, 28. 

To make as if (that is, to do or act as if), had 
in early literature the sense of to feign, to pretend, 
— a meaning that the expression can hardly 
be said to have preserved, except in colloquial 
usage. - 

Master Chancellor also said, that my lord of London 
maketh as though he were greatly displeased with me. 

Latimer's Remains. 

Man-of-War. And Herod with his men of war set 
him at nought. — Luke xxiii, 11. 

Man-of-war, with us, means a ship-oi-wzx ; but 
as here used it signifies just what the composi- 
tion of the word denotes, — namely, a warrior, a 
soldier. This sense of the word is common in 
old English literature. 

What stir 

Keeps good old York there with his men of war? 

Shakspeare. 



7o 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 



Manner. Master-builder. 

Manner. With the manner {Num. v, 13), in the very 
act. 

Manners. Evil communications corrupt good manners. 

— 1 Cor. xv, 33. 

By manners is here meant manner of life, 
habits, dispositions, character. (See Communi- 
cation.} 

Mansions. In my Father's house are many mansions. 

— John xiv, 2. 

The predominant idea of the word mansion, in 
its modern use, is a magnificent building; but 
originally it meant merely a dwelling-place 
(French, maison), or resting-place. It was espe- 
cially applied to halting-places on a journey, or 
quarters for the night. In the above passage, 
therefore, " many mansions " means many rooms 
or resting-places, and in this sense the application 
of the word is peculiarly appropriate. 

Master-builder. As a wise master-builder, I have laid 
the foundation. — 1 Cor. hi, 10. 

The meaning of the term here translated mas- 
ter-builder would be expressed in our modern 
idiom by the word architect. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 7 1 

Mean. Meat. 



The rest is left to the holy wisdom and spiritual discre- 
tion of the master-builders and inferior builders in Christ's 
Church. Lord Bacox. 

Mean. The mean man boweth down, and the great 
man humbleth himself. — Isa, ii, 9. See also Prov. xxii, 
29 ; Acts xxi, 39. 

In this passage mean is used in contrast with 
great man, signifying common, and this was the 
sense of the word at the time the translation was 
made. There is an idea of baseness now at- 
taching to the word which did not then belong 
to it. It simply meant common, lowly. The fol- 
lowing passage from one of Latimer's sermons 
well illustrates this : — 

It might please the king's grace now being to accept 
unto his favor a mean man, of a simple degree and birth, 
not born to any possessions. 

Meat. (Gen. i, 29,30; Dent, xx, 20.) With us meat 
has a much more limited meaning than it had originally. 
It now means flesh meat exclusively ; but in early English 
it has the sense of victuals generally. It is noteworthy 
that in the wrttf-offering spoken of in Deuteronomy there 
was nothing but flour and oil. The original sense of meat 
is preserved in the phrase "grace before meat," that is, 
before food, or eating. 



72 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 



Meet. Minister. 

Meet. (Gen. ii, 18; Ex. viii, 26; Heb. vi, 7, etc.) Fit, 
proper, suitable. 

Merchantman. (Gen. xxxvii, 28; % Matt. xiii, 45.) Not, 
as with us, a merchant jv£z^, but simply a merchant. 

Mess. And he took and sent messes unto them from 
before him : but Benjamin's mess was five times so much 
as any of theirs. — Gen. xliii, 34. See also 2 Sam. xi, 8. 

At the time of the translation there was no as- 
sociation of lowness in the word mess ; it meant 
a dish of meat. 

Mincing. (Isa. iii, 16.) Moving affectedly, with short, 
delicate steps, like children. 

Minish. (Ex. v, 19; Ps. cvii, 39.) This word is now 
written diminish. 

Minister. And he closed the book, and he gave it 
again to the minister, and sat down. — Luke iv, 20. 

The geiieral meaning of minister is officer or 
servant. But in modern times the term is con- 
fined to an officer of the church or a servant of 
the state. In the seventeenth century it had 
neither of these meanings, but was used solely 
to denote the humbler sense of minister as an 
attendant or servant. In Ex. xxiv, 13 ; Josh, i, 
1, Joshua is called Moses's minister, while in Ex. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 73 
Mite. Necromancer. 

xxxiii, 11 ; Num. xi, 28, the same Hebrew word is 
translated servant, and in 2 Kings iv, 43, servitor. 

The wives be ministers to their husbands, the children 
to their parents, and, to be short, the younger to their 
elder. More's Utopia. 

Mite. (Mark xii, 42.) In old England a #z/&? was a 
very small coin equal to one half a farthing. 

Motions. (Rom. vii, 5.) Emotions, impulses. 

Muffler. (Tsa. iii, 19.) A partial covering of the face, 
worn by Eastern women in public. 



N. 

Naughty. A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh 
with a froward mouth. — Prov. vi, 12. 

In modern usage, naughty is confined almost 
wholly to the nursery, but it belonged to the 
written language in early times, and was synony- 
mous with wicked. 

So shines a good deed in a naughty world. 

Shakspeare. 

Necromancer. (Dent, xviii, 11.) One who professes 
to reveal the future or unknown by pretended communi- 
cation with the dead. 



74 BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Neesing. Nephew. 

Neesing. By his neesings a light doth shine. — Job 
xli, 1 8. 

Neesing is the older form of the word now 
written sneezing. The Anglo-Saxon verb was 
niesan, so that the old form is really nearer 
the original. 

And waxen in their mirth to neeze and swear 
A merrier hour was never wasted there. 

Shakspeare. 

Nephew. If any widow have children or nephews, let 
them learn first to show piety at home, and to requite their 
parents. — I Tim. v, 4. 

In our present use the word nephew is con- 
fined to the son of a brother or of a sister ; but 
formerly it had a less strict meaning, and might 
denote a grandson or even a more remote rela- 
tion. In the above passage children or nephews 
means children or grandchildren. 

Note. — Nephew comes to us, through the French meveu, 
from the Latin nepos ; and it is interesting to note that 
nepos meant first grandson and afterwards nephew. Our 
word nepotism, from nepos, and meaning family favoritism, 
retains the original wide signification. 

The warts, black moles, spots, and freckles of fathers, 
not appearing at all upon their children's skin, begin after- 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 75 

Noisome. Occupier. 

wards to put forth and show themselves in their nephr^s, to 
wit, the children of their sons and daughters. 

Holland's Translatioyi of Plutarch's Morals. 

Noisome. (Ps. xci, 3; Ezek. xiv, 15, 21.) Hurtful, 
noxious, injurious. 

Novice. Xot a novice. — 1 Tim. iii, 6. 

Novice is derived from die Latin "novus," new^ 
and signifies one newly planted or admitted into 
the church. It has been replaced in modern 
times by the term neophyte. 

Nursing father. And kings shall be thy nursing fa- 
thers, and their queens thy nursing mothers. — Isa. xlix, 23. 

A ?iursi?ig father is a foster father. 



O. 

Observe. For Herod feared John, knowing that he 
was a just man and an holy, and observed him. — Mark 
vi, 20. 

Obse?'ve had in old times a different meaning 
from that which it now bears ; it meant, not 
merely to notice, but to treat with respect. 

Occupier. Thy riches and thy fairs, thy merchandise, 
thy mariners and thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers 
of thy merchandise. — Ezek. xxvii, 27. 



76 BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Occupy. Occurrent. 



Occupier meant a trader: the word is now 
obsolete. See occipy, second paragraph. 

Occupy. If they bind me fast with new ropes that 
never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as an- 
other man. — Judges xvi, II. 

Occupy now means to be in present possession, to 
hold, — thus one occupies a house, a station, etc. 
But formerly it had a wider sense, and meant not 
only to have the use of, but to use in general. 
" Ropes that never were occupied" means ropes 
that never were used. See also Ex. xxxviii, 24. 

Its more frequent meaning in our version of 
the Bible is, to use in trade, as money, or to 
deal in, as merchandise {Ezek. xxvii, 9) ; hence, 
intransitively, to trade or traffic {Ezek. xxvii, 16, 
19, 21, 22). In this sense it occurs in Luke xix, 
13, "occupy till I come." Compare occupier. 

Eumenes made as though he had occasion to occupy 
money [that is, to make use of money], and so borrowed a 
great sum. North's Plutarch. 

But now must men occupy their goods otherwise. 

Latimer's Sermons. 

Occurrent. But now the Lord my God hath given me 
rest on every side, so that there is neither adversary nor 
evil occurrent. — I Kings v, 4. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 



77 



Of. Offense. 

Occurrent was the earlier form of the word now 
written occurrence. 

Of. " And should have been killed ^/"them " [Acts xxiii, 
27), where we should now use by, as in Luke xiv, 8 ; 1 Cor. 
xi, 32, and numerous other passages. (See also the article 
"should.") Other peculiar uses are, " ^/"purpose " {Ruth 
\\ y 16), where we should say, on purpose; "zeal of thine 
house " (Ps. lxix, 9 ; John ii, 17), for zeal for thine house ; 
"zeal <?/*God" (Rom. x, 2), for zeal for God. 

Offense and Offend are often used in the primary and 
secondary senses of the Latin words offendere (to strike 
upon or against a stumbling-stone or other hindrance) and 
its derivative noun offensio. 

The noun, offense, is literally a stumbling-block, 
over which one may stumble and fall, as the 
Hebrew word is translated in Lev. xix, 14, " nor 
put a stumbling-block before the blind " ; and, 
figuratively, an occasion of falling into ruin, as 
in fsa. viii, 14, "a stone of stumbling and a rock 
of offense" a rock to dash against and fall. 
Hence, in a moral sense, it means an occasion of 
falling, namely, into sin (" an occasion to fall," 
as the Greek word is translated in Rom. xiv, 13), 
a cause of offense. In Rom. xiv, 20, "to eat with 
offense 99 means, so to eat as to be to another a 



73 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 



Offense. Offend. 

cause of offense, an occasion of stumbling and 
falling into sin. So it is used in Matt, xviii, 7, 
" woe to the world because of offenses," on ac- 
count of causes of offense, of occasions to unbe- 
lief and apostasy, hindrances to the reception of 
the gospel or fidelity to it. Luke xvii, 1 ; Rom. 
xiv, 13 ; Rev. ii, 14, English Bible, "stumbling- 
block," where the literal image of stumbling and 
falling is expressed in our version, as it is also 
in Rom. ix, 32, "they stumbled at that stumbling- 
stone." 

Like the Latin offensio (properly that at which 
one stumbles, and hence a cause of dissatisfac- 
tion and discontent), it means a ground or object 
of offense, of displeasure and aversion, as in Gal. 
v, 11, "then is the offense of the cross ceased," 
the cross has ceased to be a stumbling-block, a 
ground of offense ; and also that which is an of- 
fense, displeasing and offensive, as in Matt, xvi, 
23, " thou art an offense to me." 

The verb, to offend, signifies to be or become 
an offense, in its different senses. First, in the 
literal sense as an occasion of stumbling, Ps. 
cxix, 165, "and nothing shall offend them," shall 
cause them to stumble and fall. Secondly, in 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 



79 



Offense. Offend. 

the figurative and moral sense, as an occasion of 
falling into sin, it means to cause to offend, as the 
Greek word is correctly translated i Cor. viii, 13, 
"if meat make my brother to offend" So in 
Matt, v, 29, 30, "if thy right eye offend thee," 
stumble thee, cause thee to offend, as correctly 
rendered in the Geneva version, 1560. — Luke 
xvii, 2 {Matt, xviii, 6 ; Mark ix, 42), "should of- 
fend one of these little ones," should cause one 
of them to offend, to fall into unbelief • and in the 
passive, be made to offend or stumble at unlooked- 
for difficulties and dangers, and fall away from 
the truth or from duty, as in Matt, xiii, 2 1 ; xxiv, 
ic : xxvi, 31, 33 : Mark iv, 17 ; xiv, 27, 29 ; John 
xvi, 1. — Rom. xiv. 21, "stumbles or is of- 
fended" is made to offend, led into sin. Thirdly, 
in the sense of a ground or object of offense, of 
dissatisfaction and aversion, it means to displease, 
to give offense ; as in Matt, xv, 12, "the Pharisees 
were offended after they heard this saying " ; xvii, 
27, "lest we should offend them." So in Matt. 
xiii, 57, "were offended in him," found in him 
(in his humble birth and connections) ground of 
disapproval and rejection. John vi, 61 ; 2 Cor. 
xi, 29. 



80 BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Ointment. Painful. 

Ointment. (Song of Sol. i, 3.) A perfume, — not the 
modern sense of a liquid for anointing. 

Or, in the phrase "or ever," is the Saxon cer (before). 
In the common version, Ps. xc, 2 ; Prov. viii, 23 ; Cant, vi, 
12 ; Dan. vi, 24, it is equivalent to ere, which is used in 
place of it in the common version of the apocryphal book 
Ecclesiasticus, xxiii, 20, " He knew all things ere ever they 
were created." 

Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio. 

Shakspeare. 

Orator. An advocate, in the legal sense, who speaks 
on behalf of another. From the Latin orare in the signifi- 
cation to plead. (Acts xxiv, I.) 

Other, as a plural for others. Josh, viii, 22 ; 2 Chron. 
xxxii, 22 ; Job xxiv, 24 ; Phil, ii, 3, iv, 3 ; Luke xxiii, 32, 
two other malefactors (as originally printed, but in some 
modern editions amended by a comma after other) instead 
of two others, malefactors. 

P. 

Paddle. (Deut. xxiii, 13.) A small spade, or shovel. 

Painful. When I thought to know this it was too 
painful for me. — Ps. lxxiii, 16. 

The word painful has undergone some trans- 
formation of meaning since the seventeenth cen- 



BIBLE " WORD-BOOK. 8 1 

Palestine. Passion. 

tury. As employed in the above passage pain- 
ful does not mean giving pain, as in modern 
usage ; it has a passive sense, and signifies pains- 
taking, that is, toilsome, laborious. "It was too 
painful" means it was too laborious. 

I think we have some as painful [that is, laborious] 
magistrates as ever was in England. Latimer's Sermons. 

Palestine (Palestina). The Hebrew Pelesheth {Philis- 
tia) occurs seven times, and is rendered Palestina in Ex. 
xv, 14; Isa. xiv, 29, 31, and Palestine in Joel iii, 4. But it 
should everywhere be rendered P/iilistia, as in Ps. lx, 8 ; 
lxxviii, 7 {Philistines) ; Ixxxvii, 4 ; cviii, 9. 

Parcel. And the bones of Joseph .... buried they in 
a parcel of ground. 

Parcel is here used in its early meaning as sy- 
nonymous with piece or portion. In the language 
of law we still speak of a "piece or parcel of 
land." Lord Bacon uses the expression " no par- 
cel of the world," meaning no portion of the world. 

Passion. To whom also he showed himself alive after 
his passion by many infallible proofs. — Acts i, 3 

The word passion is here used in its literal 
sense, and signifies suffering. In modern usage 
it means strong feeling or emotion, but the 



6 



82 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 



Pastor. Peep. 

term was common in the Bible sense In all the 
early English writers. Latimer speaks of " all the 
passion of all the martyrs/' that is, all their suf- 
fering. 

Pastor. (Jer. xxiii, i, 2.) A shepherd. 

Pate. (Ps. vii, 6.) In modern usage pate is a sort of 
comic synonym for head ; but the earlier writers used it as 
a regular synonym of that word. 

Pattern. (Heb. ix, 23.) In early English pattern was 
used for copy, as in later English to pattern (Milton) and 

to pattern after mean to copy. 

Peep. And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto 
them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, 
and that mutter, should not a people seek unto their God ? 
— Isa. viii, 19. 

The ordinary meaning associated with the 
word peep is a meaning connected with sight; 
but peep as employed in the above passage is 
a different word, and is now obsolete. The 
primary signification is to cry like a young bird ; 
afterwards the word was used to denote the shrill 
whistling sound made by wizards that peep and 
mutter. 

As touching the manner of worshiping and adoring 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 83 
Person. Place. 



flashes of lightning, all nations with one accord and con- 
formity do it with a kind of whistling or chirping with the 
lips. Holland's Pliny. 

Person. God is no respecter of pe?-sons. — Acts x, 34. 

The word person is derived from the Latin 
persona, the mask worn by the ancient actors 
on the stage, and hence it literally means the 
part played by an individual. The passage 
does not signify that God does not respect in- 
dividuals, but that he does not regard the part 
they act in life, whether that of king or beggar. 
He looks not to reputation or outward show, 
but to character or inner life. 

Certain it is, that no man can long put on a person and 
act a part, but his evil manners will peep through the cor- 
ner of his white robe, and God will bring a hypocrite to 
shame even in the eyes of men. 

Jeremy Taylor's Sermons. 

Piety. If any widow have children or nephews, let 
them learn first to show piety at home. — 1 Tim. v, 4. 

Piety is derived from the Latin " pietas," signi- 
fying filial affection. In the above passage it is 
used in this its original sense. 

Place. " Give place unto wrath" {Rom. xii, 19), prop- 
erly unto the wrath, viz. of God ; make way for Divine 



84 BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Poll. Prevent. 



wrath, — do not anticipate it by taking vengeance into 
your own hands. (See Give.) 

Poll, noun. And their number by their polls, man by 
man, was thirty and eight thousand. — I Chron. xxiii, 3. 
See also Num. i, 2, 18, 20, 22 ; iii, 47. 

Poll is an old word for head: it is now obso- 
lete, except in such phrases as poll-tax and the 
poll at election. The poll-tax is so much tax per 
head or per capita, and the poll at election origi- 
nally meant that the voters were counted by their 
polls or heads. 

Poll, verb. To cut off the hair of the head. — 2 Sam. 
xiv, 26; Ezek. xliv, 20; Mic. i, 16. 

Potsherd (see Sherd). A piece or fragment of a broken 
pot. — Job ii, 8 ; Prov. xxvi, 23. 

Prevent. I prevented the dawning of the morning. — 
Ps. cxix, 147. 

The modern sense of the verb to prevent is to 
hinder. The literal meaning is to come before, and 
this is the signification in the psalm : I prevented 
the dawning, I came before the dawning, antici- 
pated the dawning. 

Prevent is from the Latin prcevenio, prceventum, com- 
pounded of prce, before, and venio, to come. In the sev- 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 85 

Proper. Provoke. 

enteenth century it still retained this primary significance. 
It has since lapsed into its special sense of hindering, and 
the transition of meaning seems to indicate that when one 
comes before another, he does so for the purpose of hin- 
dering, or, as we say, preventing him. 

Proper. Every man hath his proper gift of God. — 

1 Cor. vii, 7. See also I Chron. xxix, 3 ; Acts i, 19. 

The word proper has here no association of 
propriety ; it means simply one's own, and is de- 
rived from the Latin "proprius," whence property. 
" His proper gift " means the same as his own 
gift. — In Heb. xi, 32, proper means fair, comely. 

Prophesy. (1 Cor. xi, 5 ; xiv, 3, 4.) In its older usage 
prophesy meant not merely to foretell future events, but to 
expound. 

Prove. {Ex. xvi, 4; 1 Sam. xvii, 39 ; Luke xiv, 19.) To 
test, make trial of. 

Provoke. And let us consider one another to provoke 
unto love and to good works. — Heb. x, 24. See also 

2 Cor. ix, 2. 

The literal meaning of provoke (from Latin pro, 
forth, and voco, to call) is to call forth, to incite. 
With us it has acquired the special sense of in- 
citing to anger. But as used in the literature of 
the seventeenth century it retains its primitive 



86 BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Prudent. Purge. 

meaning, namely, to incite. Hence to provoke to 
love is to incite to love. 

Nay, we read, after Otho the emperor had slain himself, 
pity (which is the tenderest of affections) provoked many to 
die out of mere compassion to their sovereign. 

Bacon's Essays. 

Prudent. Discerning, intelligent (Matt, xi, 25 ; Luke 
x, 21) ; skillful in adapting means to ends (Tsa. x, 13). 

Psaltery. (1 Sam. x, 5 ; Ps. xxxiii, 2.) A stringed 
instrument to accompany the voice. 

Purchase. For they that have used the office of a 
deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and 
great boldness in the faith. — 1 Tim. iii, 13. 

To purchase has acquired in modern times the 
special sense of winning or obtaining by pay- 
ment of money ; but its original meaning was to 
obtain or acquire in any manner. 

There is no man doth a wrong, for the wrong's sake ; 
but thereby to purchase himself profit, or pleasure, or honor, 
or the like. Bacon's Essays. 

Purge. To purify, to take clean away (2 Chron. xxxiv, 
3 ; Isa. iv, 4; Heb. i, 3) ; to cleanse away excrescences, ex- 
cessive growth, of a plant (John xv, 2). 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 87 
Quaternion. Ravin., 



Q. 

Quaternion. (Acts xii, 4.) A guard consisting of 
four soldiers. 

Quick. (Lev. xiii, 10 ; Nui?i. xvi, 30; Ps. lv, 15.) 
Quick contrasts with dead, and means living ox 
alive. The original sense is retained in our verb 
to quicken, which means to make alive, to bring 
to life. 

'T is for the dead, not for the quick. 

Shakspeare. 

Quit, verb. In the sense of acquit (1 Sam. iv, 9 ; I Cor. 
xvi, 13). 

Quit, adjective. Acquitted, set free (Ex. xxi, 19, 28; 
Josh, ii, 20). 

R. 

Ragged. The tops of the ragged rocks. — Isa. ii, 21. 
Ragged is the old form of the word now written 
rugged. 

The splitting rocks cowered in the sinking sands, 
And would not dash me with their ragged sides. 

^Shakspeare. 

Ravin. Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf. — Gen. xlix, 
27. See also Ps, xvii, 12 m. 



Rearward. Road. 



This word is now obsolete. It meant to prey 
with rapacity. Our ravenous comes from the 
same root. 

Rearward. David and his men passed on in the rear- 
ward with Achish. • — I Sam. xxix, 2. See also Isa. lii, 12 ; 
lviii, 8. 

This is the seventeenth-century form of the 
word now written rearguard. 

Now in the rearward comes the Duke and his. 

Shakspeare. 

Receipt. [Matt, ix, 9; Mark ii, 14; Luke v, 27.) A 
place for receiving. 

Refrain. (Prov. x, 19.) To bridle, hold in check. 

Riches. For in one hour so great riches is come to 
naught. — Rev, xviii, 17. 

It will be noticed that the verb agreeing with 
riches is in the singular number, and this is 
strictly correct. The s in richer is not the sign 
of the plural, but a part of the word itself, which 
is a shortened form of the French richesse. 

Road. And Achish said, Whither have ye made a road 
to-day ? — 1 Sam. xxvii, 10. 

The word road would now be exactly rendered 
by our modern term raid. Both are from the 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 



8 9 



Room. Secure. 

verb ride, and mean a hostile riding or inroad 
into a country. 

Room. [Ps. xxx, 8.) Space, place. In Luke xiv, 7 - 
10, by roo?n is meant a place at table. 



s. 

Savour. [Matt, xvi, 23.) To savour (Latin sapere) is 
to think, to be of a certain way of thinking or turn of mind. 
"Thou savourest not (thinkest not) the things that be of 
God." 

When I was a child I savoured as a child. (1 Cor. xiii, 
II, quoted in Latimer's Sermons.) 

Scrabble. [David] feigned himself mad in their hands, 
and scrabbled on the doors of the gate. — 1 Sam. xxi, 13. 

The meaning of this obsolete English word 
would be expressed by our modern scribble or 
scrawl, — to make unmeaning marks. 

Scrip. (1 Sam. xvii, 40; Matt, x, 10.) A wallet or 
small bag. 

Sect. (See Heresy.) 

Secure (properly, without care, sine curd), free from 
anxiety or sense of danger [Judges xviii, 7, 10, 27). So in 
Matt, xxviii, 14, we will secure you, — literally, will make 
you without care. 



9° 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 



Seditions. Shambles. 
Seditions. (Gal. v, 20.) In the sense of divisions. 

Seethe. Set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for 
the sons of the prophets. — 2 Kings iv, 38. 

Seethe means, to boil : it is now obsolete in its 
literal sense. 

Senate. (Acts v, 21.) Council of elders ; a part of the 
Jewish Sanhedrim. 

Servitor. (2 Kings iv, 43.) A servant, a personal at- 
tendant. 

Set to. Hath set to his seal that God is true. — John 
»i» 33- 

These words apparently mean, has set (affixed) 
these words to his seal, as a motto. On the con- 
trary, the meaning is, has set his seal to these 
words, — has attested their truth by his seal 
affixed to them. Set-to is a compound verb 
meaning to affix ; he has set-io his seal (has 
set his seal to it), that God is true. 

If it be so, they must set to their hands, and shall set to 
their hands. 

Old MS. in Napier's Memorials of the Marquis of Montrose. 

Shambles. (1 Cor. x, 25.) Flesh-market, where meat 
was sold, and where meat that had been offered in sacrifice 
to idols was sometimes exposed for sale. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 91 
Shamefacedness. Shroud. 



Shamefacedness. (1 Tim. ii, 9) is a corruption in 
modern editions for shamefastness (like steadfastness from 
steadfast), meaning a settled, confirmed habit of modesty 
and decorum. 

Shamefast she was, in maiden's shamefastness. 

Chaucer, Doctor of Physic's Tale. 

You shamefast are, but shamefastness itself is she. 

Spensek, Fairy Qtteen. 

Sherd. (Isa. xxx, 14.) A shred, or fragment. 

Should. And should have been killed of them.. — Acts 
xxiii, 27. 

This would now mean, ought to have been 
killed ; and that might naturally be mistaken for 
the true sense. Was about to be (killed) is the 
literal rendering, and was expressed by should 
have been (killed) in old English. 

Shroud. Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon 
with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, etc. — 
Ezek. xxxi, 3. 

Shroud is obsolete in the sense in which it is 
here used : it means cover, shelter. In an old 
English poem occur the following lines, in which 
shroud ' is used in the same connection as in the 
passage in Ezekiel : — 



92 BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Silly. Sincere. 



Where like a mounting cedar he should bear 
His plumed top aloft into the air ; 
And let these shrubs sit underneath his shrouds, 
Whilst in his arms he doth embrace the clouds. 

Silly. Ephraim also is like a silly dove. Hosea vii, 1 1. 
See also 2 Tim. iii, 6. 

Silly, in modern usage, has acquired an oppro- 
brious sense which it had not originally: it is 
derived from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning 
happy, and its meaning in early English litera- 
ture is simple, harmless, guileless. The old 
writers speak, for example, of silly sheep, that is, 
harmless sheep, silly woman, that is, a simple, 
guileless woman. 

Silverling. (Isa. vii, 33 ; elsewhere " a piece of silver.") 
A small silver coin of uncertain value. 

Sincere. As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of 
the word, that ye may grow thereby. — 1 Pet. ii, 2. 

Sincere is said to be derived from sine cera, 
literally without wax, that is, the pure, clear 
honey. Hence the primitive meaning of the 
word is pure, zmadulter cited, and this is the sense 
of the word in the above passage. A similar use 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 93 
Sith. Sore. 



of sincere was common in the literature of the 
seventeenth century. 

But the good, sincere, and true nard is known by the 
lightness, red color, sweet smell, and the taste especially. 

Holland's Pliny. 

Sith. (Ezek. xxxv, 6, and heading to Rom. v.) One 
of the early forms of the word now written since. 

Skill, verb. There is not any among us that can skill 
to hew timber like unto the Sidonians. — 1 Kings v, 6. 
See also 2 Chron. ii, 7, 8; xxxiv, 12. 

The verb to skill is now obsolete : it meant to 
u?idersta?id. Lord Bacon uses it in this sense in 
the following passage : 

Sylla could not skill of letters, and therefore knew not 
how to dictate. 

Slow-bellies. {Titus i, 12.) Slothful gluttons. 

Smoke. (See on a smoke.) 

Sod, Sodden. [Gen. xxv, 29 ; Ex. xii, 9.) The past 
tense and past participle of seethe, to boil. 

Sodering. (Isa. xli, 7.) The old spelling of soldering. 

Sore. (2 Chron. xxi, 19; Job ii, 7; Ps. ii, 5.) Griev- 
ous, severe, painful. — Sorely. {Gen. xlix, 23 ; Isa. xxiii, 
5.) Greatly, grievously. — Sorer. {Heb. x, 29.) Com- 
parative of sore. 



94 BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Sottish. Straitness. 
Sottish. (Jer. iv, 22.) Stupid, senseless. 

Sped. Have they not sped? {Judges v, 30) have they 
not succeeded ? 

Speed. {Gen. xxiv, 12.) Success. 

Stand upon. (2 Sam. i, 9, 10.) More correctly, stand 
up against, assail. 

Story. The story of the prophet Iddo. ; — 2 Chron. xiii, 
22. 

Story, in this passage, and in 2 Chron. xxiv, 27, 
is used in its original sense of history. Story is 
a contraction of history, from the Greek historia ; 
Italian storia. 

Strait, adj. Narrow (2 Kings, vi, 1 ; Matt, vii, 13). 

Strait, noun. A narrow place ; hence, in a strait 
(1 Sam. xiii, 6) means in difficulty; and in Philip, i, 23, in 
a strait betwixt the two, is a case where it is difficult to 
make a choice. 

Straitly. {Gen. xliii, 7; Mark i, 43.) Strictly; {Josh. 
vi, 1) closely. 

Straitest. (Acts xxvi, 5.) Strictest. 

Straitness. (Dent, xxviii, 53, 55, 57; 7^ xxxvi, 16; 
y^r. xix, 9.) Literally, narrowness, and hence distress, 
difficulty. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 95 

Strake. Table. 

Strake. (Acts xxvii, 17.) The past tense of the verb 
to strike, for which we now use struck. 

Strake, noun. A streak (Gen. xxx, 37 ; Lev. xiv. 37). 

Swine. (Lev. xi, 7 ; 7V<?z/. xi, 22.) In these passages 
swine is used in the singular, a use that is now obsolete. 

T. 

Tabernacles. If thou wilt, let us make here three 
tabernacles. — Matt, xvii, 4. See also Num. xxiv, 5; Job 
xi, 14. 

The modern sense of tabernacle suggests much 
more imposing associations than belong to the 
word in the original thus rendered. The mean- 
ing of the term is tents or movable dwellings. 
The feast of tabernacles was simply the feast of 
booths, when all Israelites dwelt in booths seven 
days (Lev. xxii, 42, 43). 

Table. Not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of 
the heart. — 2 Cor. hi, 3. See also Isa. xxx, 8; Luke i, 
63 ; Hab. ii, 2. 

The word tablet would more accurately denote 
what was meant by table in the older writers. 
Yea. from the table of my memory 
I '11 wipe away all trivial fond records. 

Shakspeare. 



9 6 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 



Tablets. Temperance. 

Tablets (Isa. hi, 20) should be perfume-boxes, belong- 
ing to a lady's toilet furniture. 

Tabret. {Gen. xxi, 27 ; Job xvii, 6.) A small drum, 
perhaps like the tambourine. 

Tache. {Ex. xxvi, 6, 11, etc.) A fastening, or catch, 
the same as tack, and connected with attach. 

Tale. There shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye 
deliver the tale of bricks. — Ex. v, 18. See also I Sam. 
xviii, 27 ; I Chron. ix, 28. 

The tale is what we would call the tally, the 
number told off or counted j hence, in general, a 
full number. The word occurs in one of Mil- 
ton's poems, where it may have been misunder- 
stood by many readers. 

And every shepherd tells his tale, 
Under the hawthorn in the dale. 

This does not mean that every shepherd relates 
his story, but tells or counts his tally, that is, 
counts the number of his sheep. 

Taverns. {Acts xxviii, 15.) The Latin tabernce ; 
" Three Taverns," a station on the Appian Road from 
Puteoli to Rome, and a frequent meeting-place of trav- 
elers. 

Temperance. But the fruit of the spirit is ... . 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 97 

Temporal. Tittle. 

meekness, temperance. — Gal. v, 23. See also Acts xxiv, 
25 ; 2 Peter i, 6. 

The original meaning of temperance is self- 
restraint, moderation, in general, and this is the 
sense of it in the above passage. In modern 
usage, it specially denotes moderation in eating 
and drinking. 

The virtue of prosperity is temperance ; the virtue of 
adversity is fortitude. Bacon's Essays. 

Temporal (2 Cor. iv, 18), for temporary. 

Tempt. {Gen. xxii, I; Ex. xvii, 7; Num. xiv, 22.) 
To try, to put to the test. 

Thought. Take no thought for your life. — Matt, vi, 25. 
In this passage thoitght has its old sense of 
anxious care. The precept does not signify that 
we are not to have proper thought or considera- 
tion for our life, but that we are not to be unduly 
or over-an;:iously solicitous regarding it. 

Harris, an alderman of London, was put in trouble, and 
died of thought and anxiety before his business came to 
an end. Lord Bacon, History of King Henry VII. 

Tittle. Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one 
tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. 
— Matt, v, 18. See also Luke xvi, 17. 



7 



gS BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

To. Translate. 

The jot was the smallest letter of the Hebrew 
alphabet. A tittle was a little curved hook by 
which some of the Hebrew letters were distin- 
guished. 

To. We have Abraham to our father {Matt, iii, 9 ; 
Luke iii, 8, etc.), where we should use for. 

Tormentor. And his lord was wroth, and delivered 
him to the tormentors, etc. — Matt, xviii, 34. 

Tormentor is the old English term for execu- 
tioner, or torturer. 

Town-clerk. (Acts xix, 35.) Properly, scribe, or re- 
corder, namely, of the laws and decrees of the state, and 
exercising the authority of a Roman magistrate whose 
powers are not strictly defined. 

Translate. To translate the kingdom from the house 
of Saul. — 2 Sam. iii, 10. See also Heb. xi, 5. 

We should now use transfer in place of trans- 
late ; but both words are from the Latin verb 
transfero, trans latum, meaning to carry or take 
from one place to another. To translate, in 
modern usage, is confined almost wholly to the 
act of transferring from one language to another ; 
but in the seventeenth century it had an applica- 
tion as wide as transfer now has. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 99 
Trow. Untoward. 
Trow. {Luke xvii, 9.) Think, believe, suppose. 

Turn again, for return; as in Coverdale's translation. 
Job x, 21, " afore I go thither, from whence I shall not turn 
again' 1 ''', and in Ruth i, II, 12, where return should be 
used, as in verses 7, 8, 10, 16 ; and 1 Sam. xv, 25, for re- 
turn, used in verse 26. 

Turtle. And the voice of the turtle is heard in our 
land. 

Turtle is the old designation for turtle-dove. 

Twain. (1 Sam. xviii, 22 ; Ezek. xxi, 19 ; Matt, v, 41.) 
Two ; whether of them twain {Matt, xxi, 31), which of the 
two. 

u. 

Unction. But ye have an unction from the Holy One. 
— I John ii, 20. 

The same Greek word here rendered unction is 
translated by the term anointing m i John ii, 
27. It is applied to the spiritual influence of 
the Holy Ghost. 

Undersetter. (1 Kings vii, 30, 34.) Prop, support. 

Undertake. (Isa. xxxviii, 14.) To be surety. 

Untoward. (Acts ii, 40.) Untoward can hardly be said 
to be in use now : it means perverse, intractable. 



IOO BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Usury. Vehement. 

Usury. Wherefore then gavest not thou my money 
into the bank, that at my coming I might have required 
mine own with usury? — Luke xix, 23. 

Usury now means the lending of money at 
extortionate interest ; but at the time of our 
translation it meant any interest, — a sum paid 
f or the use of money : hence, mine own with 
usury, means mine own with interest. It is used 
in the same sense of interest in the following pas- 
sage from Bacon's Essays. 

Since there must be borrowing and lending, and men 
are so hard of heart as they will not lend freely, usury 
must be permitted. 



V. 

Vagabond. Let his children be continually vagabonds, 
and beg. — Ps. cix, 10. See also Gen. iv, 12; Acts xix, 3. 

The literal meaning of vagabond is a wanderer, 
and this is the sense of the word in the passage 
quoted. It has since acquired a disreputable 
association not originally implied in the word. 

Vehement. And it came to pass, when the sun did 
arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind. — Jonah 
iv, 8. 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 



ICI 



Very. Virtue. 

We should now use the word violent, as vehe- 
ment is confined to the action of the mind ; but 
in old English the word was applied to the ele- 
ments also. 

Very. Art thou my very son Esau ? — Gen. xxvii, 24. 
See also JoJui vii, 26. 

Very has here its original sense of true. 
This gentleman, the prince's near ally, 
My very friend, hath got his mortal hurt 
In my behalf. Shakspeare. 
Vex. {Ex. xxii. 21 ; Num. xxv, 17; Matt, xv, 22; xvii, 
15 ; Acts xii, 1.) To torment, harass, oppress. 

Vile. (Philip, iii, 21 ; James ii, 2.) Humble, of little 
worth. 

Virtue. For there went virtue out of him and healed 
them all. — Luke vi, 19. 

Virtue has here its original meaning of power, 
or strength. It is derived from virtus, mean- 
ing literally manhood, or manliness, which was 
the virtue most valued in old Roman days : af- 
terwards it came to denote moral excellenc3 
generally. 

Or have ye chosen this place 
After the toil of battle to repose 
Your wearied virtue ? 

MiltOx, Paradise Lest. 



102 BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Vocation. Wax. 

Vocation. That ye walk worthy of the vocation where- 
with ye are called. — Efih. iv, I. 

Vocatio?i in its modern usage means employ- 
ment, but its original sense is calling, a use well 
exemplified in the following passage from Lati- 
mer : — 

We should tarry our vocation till God call us ; we should 
have a calling of God. 

Volume. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of 
the book it is written of me) to do thy will, O God. — Heb. 
x, 7. See also Ps. xl, 7. 

Volume means originally a roll, from the form . 
of the ancient manuscripts. 

W. 

Wait upon. (Ps. cxxii, 2.) To watch, attend. 

Wantonness. (Pom. xiii, 13 ; 2 Peter ii, 18.) Licen- 
tiousness, dissolute living. 

Ware. (Acts xiv, 16.) Aware. In 2 Tim. iv, 15, it is 
the translation of another word, and "be thou ware" 
means do thou beware. 

Wax. To grow (Ex. xxii, 24 ; I Sam. iii, 2 ; Matt. 
xxiv, 12 ; Luke xii, 33). 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 103 

Waxen. Whisperer. 

Waxen. Grown (Gen. xix, 13 ; Lev. xxv, 39). 

Way, Ways. To go one's way, to go their ways, 
means simply to go, to go away, to depart. Went their 
ways { John xi, 46) means, went away, not that they went 
by different ways. Go your ways (Luke x, 3) has no ref- 
erence to the different routes they were to take. 

Wealth. Wealth and riches shall be in his house. — 
Ps. cxii, 3. 

In this passage wealth is not a synonym for 
riches: it means well-being in general, not the 
restricted modern sense of pecuniary well-being. 
Compare Esth. x, 3, "seeking the wealth of his 
people," their well-being; 1 Cor. x, 24, "seek 
"every man another's wealth" another's good. 

Wealthy. Wealthy nation (Jer. xlix, 31), tranquil, se- 
cure. A wealthy place (Ps. lxvi, 12), a place of abundance. 

Well (Cant, iv, 15 ; John iv, 14) was originally a spring 
or fountain. 

Wench. (2 Sam. xvii, 17.) A girl commonly of humble 
birth. 

When as. (Matt, i, 18.) Old English for when. 

Whisperer. (Prow, xvi, 28; Rom. i, 29.) A secret 
informer. 



104 BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Whispering. Witty. 

Whispering, (2 Cor. xii, 20.) Secret information ma- 
liciously given. 

Wicked, a noun, for wicked one, or ones. And then 
shall that wicked he revealed (2 Thess. ii, 8). 

His head these wicked took. 

Stow's Annals. 

Will, verb. Often used for the third person, wills. John 
vii, 17, if any man will do his will, — properly, wills to do 
his will. Prov. xxi, 1 ; Dan. iv, 17 ; 1 Cor. vii, 36. 

Wimple. The Lord will take away .... the mantles 
and the wimples. — Isa. iii, 22. A covering for the neck. 

Wise, noun. Old English for way, manner. On this 
wise {Matt, i, 18), in this manner. Acts xiii, 34; Heb. iv, 4 

Wist, verb. The past tense [knew) of the old English 
verb to wit (to know). Ex. xvi, 15 ; Mark ix, 6; Luke ii, 
49 ; Acts xxiii, 5. 

Wit, verb. To wit (2 Cor. viii, ij. See the article Do. 

Wit, noun. Knowledge, understanding. Are at their 
wifs end (Ps. cvii, 27). 

Witty. I Wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out 
knowledge of witty inventions. — Prov. viii, 12. See also 
Judges xi, 23. 

Witty now means smart; but originally it 
had a larger and nobler meaning, signifying 



BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 1 05 

Woe worth. Wot, Wotteth. 

wise, ingenious. Witty inventions denotes in- 
genious or skillful inventions. 

Woe worth. Howl ye, Wo worth the day. — Ezek. 

XXX, 2. 

This is an old English idiom, now obsolete. 
Wo worth means wo be to. Worth has no con- 
nection with the modern noun worthy being de- 
rived from the Saxon verb weorthan, to be. 

Worship, noun. From worth, with the formative ter- 
mination ship, worthship = worthiness denoted the honor or 
reverence of which one was considered worthy. The noun 
is so used in Josh, v, 14, "fell on his face and did wor- 
ship" ; that is, did obeisance, as the same Hebrew word 
is often translated (did, or made, obeisance, Gen. xxxvii, 
7, 9, 11; Ex. xviii, 7; 2 Kings i, 16, etc.), expressing 
reverence by falling on his face. 

Worship, verb. To honor, to express the respect and 
homage due to the worth and dignity of the one so hon- 
ored. It ia now restricted, in common use, to the homage 
due only to the Deity ; but in old English it expressed the 
homage due to superior worth or station. Matt, xviii, 26, 
" fell down and worshiped him " ; more literally, falling, 
prostrated himself before him, as the same act is expressed 
in 2 Kings iv, 37, " fell at his feet and bowed herself to 
the ground." 

Wot, Wotteth. The present tense {know) of the old 



106 BIBLE WORD-BOOK. 

Would to God. Yoke-fellow. 

verb to wit {to know). Gen. xxi, 26; xxxix, 8 ; Josh, ii, 5 ; 
Philip, i, 22. 

Would to God ! This exclamation is purely English, 
and is not found in the Hebrew or Greek Scriptures. 
"Would God" [Num. xi, 29; Deut. xxviii, 67; 2 Kings 
v, 3) or " Would to God " {Ex. xvi, 3 ; Josh, vii, 7) is 
more properly expressed by " O that," as in Deut. v, 29 ; 
Job vi, 8, etc. ; Ps. xiv, 7, etc. ; Cant, viii, I ; Jer. ix, 1, 2. 
In the New Testament, "I would to God" {Acts xxvi, 29) 
should be, I could pray to God, I Cor. iv, 8 ; 2 Cor. xi, 1, 
properly, I would that. 

Y. 

Yesternight. The God of your father spake unto me 
yesternight. — Gen. xxxi, 29. 

We have lost the word yesternight: its meaning 
is, however, sufficiently evident from the analogy 
of yesterday. 

Yoke-fellow. And I entreat thee also, true yoke-fellow. 
— Philip, iv, 3. 

This is a fine word which has dropped out of 
the language : it is equivalent to comrade, com- 
panion, and was in common use in the literature 
of the seventeenth century. 

Yoke-fellows in arms, 
Let us to France. Shakspeare. 



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